Vice-Versa
by Nightmare-Taichou
Summary: Two worlds. Two boys. One name. Kise Ryouta is the ace of Kaijou High's basketball club, Ryouta Kise is the Third Prince of the Kaijou Kingdom. But, how will both boys fare when they suddenly find themselves in each other's worlds? Will the Prince be able to masquerade as 'Kise Ryouta? Can Kise survive the fantastical hell that is the Kaijou Kingdom?
1. Doppelgänger

**A/N:**

 **Genre(s) ―Adventure/Fantasy/Action/Romance/Friendship/Family**

 **Warning ― Some genderbent characters**

* * *

Chapter 1

 _Doppelgänger_

 _..._

The room was extremely large and painted in orange with golden designs lining edges of the walls. On the left and right sides of the walls there were three rows of bookshelves which were filled with books of varying subjects.

In the middle of the room there was a glass-top table with two sofas on the left and right and two chairs on the other sides. A tall blond male sat on one of chairs with his feet on top of the table engrossed in a novel. His brown eyes sparkled with enjoyment. He was none other than Kise Ryouta.

"Your Highness!" a voice from the other side of the door took him away from his reading. "Your guests are here!"

"Send them in!" He replied. As he said that, the door opened and two teens ―a male and a female entered. When the door closed, the male spoke,

"What's with her, Ryouta?" he asked. "Why's she so stiff? Aren't the palace staff used to us by now?"

"I can't answer that." Ryouta shrugged. He then had a playful look on his face. "By the way Yoshitaka-senpai, were you and Yukio-senpai out on a date? You both look dashing."

"Isn't it ob―" he broke off as he was kicked by his female companion. Yoshitaka was a tall male with an average body build. He has short black hair with a slight green tint to it parted to the right. He has very narrow eyes with dark pupils. He was dressed casually, a white dress shirt and black pants with white sneakers.

"Of course not!" Yukio screeched, her face red with embarrassment. She has sharp steel blue eyes which were emphasized by her short voluminous black hair done in the sophisticated bob hairstyle. She wore a white shirt underneath a royal blue blazer and white pants with matching blue heels.

"Come on, Yukio-senpai." Ryouta drawled playfully. "Don't be like that. Yoshitaka-senpai isn't denying it, now is he?"

" _You_ should not be like this!" she continued. "We just happened to run into each other that's all!"

"Wow, that's some _luck_." Ryouta smirked. "Just admit it. Don't be shy now."

Yukio twitched angrily. Then without a word, she dashed towards Ryouta and gave him a drop kick. He was sent flying into a nearby wall, after which Yukio fixed her hair out of her face.

"You have some guts talking to your Senpai like that, _brat._ " She spat.

"Senpai! That was mean!" he whined.

"Yukio-chan, this isn't school. Drop kicking the Prince in the castle is forbidden." Yoshitaka said warily. "What if someone had seen?"

"Humph! He deserved it!" she said as she folded her arms.

Suddenly, there was a dark purple light coming from the opposite direction of the teens. Turning to look at the source, the trio saw that it was a dark magic circle with strange symbols inside.

The rings on the trio's fingers glimmered momentarily and immediately after, Yukio brandished a halberd. The shaft was metallic and red in colour, and consisted of an axe blade with a spike at the very top.

Beside her, Ryouta had one metallic spear which was silver in colour. The shaft was tall, extending about two metres, with long and thick protrusions on the sides. Its head was huge and triangular-shaped.

Yoshitaka stood behind them and wielded a simple recurved bow which was roughly as tall as him. It was white in colour with blue ornate designs on the lower and upper limbs of the bow. The handle riser section was completely in gold however, the arrow rest had a blue stripe in the middle. Around his right eye was a semi-transparent display lens which was attached to a metal base at the ear.

By now, an elongated creature slithered out of the magic circle. It had no legs, and its entire body was covered in overlapping green scales. The creature was as tall as the room, but unfazed, the teens went to work.

As Yoshitaka pulled his arm backwards, air swirled around him and condensed into the shape of an arrow. He released it towards one of the creature's eyes, effectively blinding it. The others charged at it; Yoshitaka never stopped releasing his arrows as he wanted to garner the creature's attention.

The creature let out a roar which shattered the glass in the room and had the teens covering their ears desperately. Then, it lunged at both Yukio and Ryouta who were closest to it. Haven't yet recovered, Yukio managed to use her fire to create a wall barring the creature for a couple seconds. Ryouta followed suit by moving the two of them away from it with his lightning.

Yukio receded the wall, and in that moment, the creature used its tail and made a lash at the three. They dodged it with ease of course, and this time, Yoshitaka aimed for the other eye. He was successful, and sent a smirk of triumph to the others.

Without hitch, they dashed towards the creature which was moving erratically, due to its sight being gone. Reaching close to it, Yukio jumped up and with her halberd, she slashed the top of its head but was unable to give it a finishing blow due to the creature twisting about.

Ryouta slid on his knee to avoid the creature's tail. Getting behind it, he used his spear to jab the monster in its tail. With a malicious grin, the Prince proceeded to cut upwards its body by dragging the weapon along its body as he ran. But likewise Yukio, he couldn't land a fatal blow due to its movements. Yoshitaka as well, he was finding it hard to release his arrows to hit the fatal areas.

"This fucking monster!" Ryouta hissed in rage and frustration.

Suddenly, coming from the outside, a tunnel of water knocked the creature into the wall and stunting it.

"Otouto!" a voice shrieked. "Are you alright?!" Another tall blond male dressed in a blue suit came through the broken window with a panicked look on his face. His hair was carefully parted to the right with his forehead fringe hanging over his right eye. The back of his hair was in the messy style, seeming as though he hadn't combed it somewhat.

"Ryouji-sama!" Yoshitaka said in relief.

"Ji-nii! Yeah, I'm ―" Ryouta didn't get to finish the sentence as the creature once more let out a scream. However, instead of attacking them again, a magic circle appeared on the ceiling, and the creature slithered up and disappeared through it.

Not wanting this creature to get away, Ryouta headed towards it by using a magic circle as a stepping stone. Reaching the ceiling, he flashed a bright smile at his brother, Yukio and Yoshitaka.

"I'll be back!"

"Wait! You don't even know where that thing came from!" Ryouji shrieked. But knowing his little brother, with an outstretched hand, he called forth water to restrain him while the magic circle was fading. Yukio and Yoshitaka were beside the older blond with looks of concern.

"Don't you want to know where the hell these creatures keep coming from?!" Ryouta asked. "We can't let this opportunity go to waste!"

"You impulsive brat!" Ryouji shouted. "Think first! So what if you found where they are coming from?! What will you do if ―!" But he was unable to finish the sentence. Ryouta evoked his lightning and sent a shock towards his brother, causing him to lose focus. In that moment of freedom, using a magic circle, he jumped up to the ceiling, hoping that the magic circle the monster came out of was still there.

Sadly, it wasn't.

He then evoked his lightning once again, and began to write a magic circle. Trying to remember what the creature's circle looked like, he frantically wrote. While Yukio was attending to the shaken Prince, Yoshitaka looked up and saw Ryouta writing.

"What are you doing Ryouta?" He asked.

"Nothing much." He replied. But as he continued to write, Yoshitaka caught glimpses of the characters being used.

"Nothing my ass!" he shouted and just like Ryouta, he used a magic circle as a stepping stone to get up to the ceiling. He didn't want to touch the Prince because he knows he'll be electrocuted like Ryouji. Instead, with his recurved bow, he pulled his arm back to release an arrow. However, it was too late. The magic circle lit up, and within an instant, Ryouta disappeared.

"What was that, Yoshitaka?!" Yukio asked, Ryouji was finally waking up.

"It's Ryouta! He wrote up a magic circle and disappeared!" He pointed to where the faded circle was still present. "By the time I drew my bow, he disappeared."

"He what?!" Yukio asked. She looked up at the ceiling and saw the circle. "Let's drag his ass back here."

She got down on her knee and with the aid of Yoshitaka; she too copied his magic circle. Ryouji had gotten out his electric daze, and he was filled in by Yoshitaka. When Yukio had finished the magic circle, hers was a bit different than Ryouta's. While Ryouta's had the character for 'departure' and 'arrival' on the outer rings, hers had the characters for 'arrival' and 'return'.

She then placed her hands on the edge of the circle and it lit up.

"Yukio keep it open," Ryouji commanded. "Yoshitaka, get your bow ready. Who knows if a monster may follow him here."

"Hai!"

"Alright," Ryouji said as he stood firm. He then evoked his water and formed what seemed to be ropes with it. Each hand had one, and with a grunt, he pushed the water into the magic circle.

"He's right there, on his back! Grab him!" Yukio said. Since this was a spatial magic circle, she was able to see where it had opened up. What she saw was a blond male in a white shirt, lying on his back. And judging by his body structure, and hair, this was no doubt the Third Prince.

Ryouji followed her instruction, and made a fist as though he was holding something. When he felt the water secure his target, he made a giant leap backwards, planning to bring him back in one swoop. But the boy was resisting.

 _This brat,_ He thought angrily. He continued his actions, and not before long, Ryouji had successfully pulled back the blond into their world. However, when the boy fell out of the circle and the light dimmed, all colour from their faces drained.

"Oh shit."

 _xxxx_

"I'm home!" Kise shouted as he took off his shoes at the genkan. He then made his way inside the kitchen and saw both his parents busy. His father was by the counter with a knife in hand, chopping meat while his mother was by the sink washing rice.

"I'm home." He said again. The two jumped when they heard him, and greeted him with a smile.

"Welcome back." His father smiled at him. Kise's father ―Ryouhei was a tall man with lovely blond hair and bright green eyes with long corner lashes.

"So how was practice?" Kise's mother ―Ritsuko then asked. Compared to her husband, she was a short woman, with long black hair and beautiful brown eyes.

"It was the usual." Kise replied with a sigh. "Coach worked us like mules; I guess he's still hung up on the practice match."

Ritsuko chuckled. "I'm sure your father told you not to judge a book by the cover, right? I'm sure it can be applied to basketball as well."

Kise deflated and made a pout. "Mom…"

"By the way Ryou," Ryouhei joined in after making one last chop. "We published a tankobon for a new manga today; I brought a copy since you might like it."

Kise brightened in an instant. "Thank you!" With that, the teen sped off up the stairs and down the hall to his room. Flinging the door open, he spotted the manga, sitting atop his bed. He threw his school bag and blazer on the chair and dashed to the bed.

He took up the book and headed into the adjacent room. This room was painted in orange with gold on the edges. On the left and right walls, there were bookshelves, all laden with fiction of the different genres that one could think of (well, appropriate genres for a teenager). There were novels, light novels, but mangas took up the bulk of the books there.

He lied on his back on the floor, and started to read. However, as soon as he opened the book, he heard the sounds of static electricity. Placing the book on his chest, Kise looked about the room, wondering where the sound was coming from. He saw nothing out of place, and shrugged it off as maybe coming from outside. He went back to reading, but then, a bright yellow light shone in his face.

"What?!" Kise said aloud, somewhat angry. He just wanted to read the manga in peace. But that was when he saw it.

On the ceiling, there was something that was too similar to a magic circle he's seen in anime. Within the outer bands, there were intricate writings ―symbols rather, but Kise couldn't tell _what_ symbols they were due to the light emitting from the circle. The inner circle had a hexagram in the centre and at each end of the diagram, there were smaller circles connected together with straight lines. Within those smaller circles, he saw the kanji for 'departure' and 'arrival'.

But then, from these smaller circles went electricity that followed along the lines of the hexagram. After all was connected, Kise saw the hexagram and the circles disappear to give way to what seemed like a portal opening.

It left Kise frozen in shock.

He wanted to run, but his body just won't move. He kept staring at the magic circle which kept expanding. Suddenly, Kise saw another spell circle appear beneath him. Finally his body responded, and he bolted upright. However, in that instant, Kise felt something wrap around his body and he was being pulled in.

Kise let out a blood curdling scream.

Meanwhile, Ryouhei and Ritsuko immediately dashed up the stairs as their son's scream had reached their ears. However, by the time they reached Kise's door, they saw the blinding yellow light and headed towards it. But as they reached the doorway to the adjacent room, they saw Kise on his back being dragged down into what seemed like a portal by…bands of water? The blond was resisting with all his strength but it was futile. Even though the water bands held him, he couldn't hold them.

"Ryou!" Ryouhei shouted and made a dive for him. But it was too late. The light from the magic circle faded and his son had disappeared. However, both parents noticed that there was another magic circle on the ceiling, but before Ryouhei could move, something fell on him. Without hesitation, Ritsuko kicked it off her husband, sending it flying. She saw that it was a human being, but she didn't want to take any chances. She just lost her boy; she couldn't lose her beloved too.

The light from the magic circle on the ceiling faded, and the two parents were looking at the person that arrived.

Gesturing for his wife to stay on guard, Ryouhei made his way to the seemingly unconscious teen who was dressed in casual clothing. He wore a white shirt with a few buttons undone tucked into dark jeans and matching shoes. Around his wrist there was a gold watch with diamonds embedded in the bands and on his thumb there was a plain ring.

But that didn't catch their eyes at first. It was the spear he held on to. It was entirely made out of metal; the shaft was as tall as Ryouhei (or even taller), with long and thick protrusions on the sides. Its head was huge and triangular-shaped.

Using a nearby mop-stick, Ryouhei kept a distance from the boy (and the magic circles) to roll him onto his back to see his face. The act was successful, but a part of the two parents wished that it didn't.

The blond teen on the floor was the exact replica of his son, Kise Ryouta. His hairstyle was the same. His face was the same. His height was the same. _Everything_ was the same. But both Ryouhei and Ritsuko knew that the boy in front them weren't their son. It _couldn't_ be.

The Kise look-alike then shuffled, getting himself up onto his feet. When he was finally up, he looked towards the two and a smile came onto his face as he lunged at them.

"Daddy!"

Ryouhei and Ritsuko were left frozen.

Ryouhei pushed him off, while Ritsuko swiftly held the kitchen knife at the boy's neck. "Who are you?" She asked. The blond boy stiffened at feeling the cool sensation pressed up at his throat. He wanted to retaliate, but she looked like his mother…he couldn't find it in him to throw her through the window.

But, deep down, both Ryouhei and Ritsuko had a feeling of what this is. Especially Ryouhei. Being in his line of work, he's edited and published many stories with this kind of premise but to think it was happening at this very moment…

The Kise look-alike blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about? It's me, Ryouta!"

"You can't be." Ryouhei answered. "My son never calls me 'Daddy'."

"And two," Ritsuko joined in. "Our son doesn't have so many piercings."

It was as they said; this Ryouta had four piercings on his left ear ―three at where his lobe is, and one on his helix.

But hearing what the two said, Ryouta was taken aback. The two people before him were identical to his parents, but when he looked about the room, it was then that he realized that something was wrong. His room didn't look like _this._

 _This room is small!_ Ryouta thought. But then again, he remembered entering the magic circle to chase after the creature. Still, there's no way those creatures could come from a place as nice as this. _That means I messed up._ His expression fell immediately. Because of his rashness, he ended up somewhere his own parents doesn't even think he's their son.

Deciding to act calm, Ryouhei decided to speak before his wife decides to slice the boy's throat for taking her child away.

"You say you're 'Ryouta' correct?" he asked.

"Yes. You don't believe me?"

"Of course not." Ritsuko said.

Ryouta sighed. "Daddy, when I was five you ran over Eiji with your car but because Mom wasn't here, when she returned you told her that he had escaped and got killed on the road. You even dug a hole in the wall to show her that he escaped through there." Eiji being Ryouta's pet.

Ryouhei stiffened. Both in shock that that was a secret between him and _his_ son, no one else should know about that; and the fact that Ritsuko was sending him death glares.

"That's ―" he broke off before he could finish.

"Here." Ryouta interrupted. He rolled up his pants leg and pushed down his ankle sock to reveal a mark. It was oddly shaped, seeming like a formless artwork. "This is ―"

"Your birthmark." Ritsuko finished. She dropped her hands and almost broke out in tears. If anything should ever happen to her son's face (God forbid), Ritsuko would know her boy just by that one mark; and no one should even realize that it's there; it's so inconspicuous.

Ryouhei let a sigh and raked a hand through his hair. He didn't want to believe that this was happening and that his son was just playing an elaborate joke on them, but sadly, it was not so. He knew Kise would never do such a thing, given that it isn't April's Fool.

"Could you tell me where am I?" Ryouta then asked.

"You're in Yamato City, Kanagawa, Japan." He said. He found it odd that this boy who was the carbon copy of his son didn't know where he was. But throwing that thought aside for now, he then looked at the magic circle in the floor. "Now could you tell me why the hell are those things in my floor and ceiling?"

Ryouta looked at the one on the floor and shrugged his shoulders. "To be honest, I don't know about that one." He then looked up at the ceiling. "That's the one I drew to chase the _Bakemono_ that attacked me in my room. By the way, what's 'Japan'?"

"Wait, I want to know what this is about drawing magic circles and a Bake-something." Ritsuko spoke.

"How come you don't know Japan?" Ryouhei asked.

"I know Yamato City and Kanagawa, but I've never heard of Japan before. As a matter of fact, it doesn't exist." He turned to Ritsuko to answer, "Bakemono are grotesque creatures that attack my world almost every day. No one knows where they originate from though, so don't ask me that."

Ryouhei and Ritsuko exchanged glances before letting out a sigh. For one, somehow, they could tell that he's not lying, as, if they should use their own son as reference, whenever Kise lies his left eye twitches profusely and he avoids eye-contact. The doppelganger before them was looking directly at them and seemed like a lost child.

They sighed again. This is going to take a while.

 _xxxx_

Without a doubt, Ryouji, Yoshitaka and Yukio could tell that this was not Ryouta. For one, this blond didn't wear the watch that Ryouta received from his father on his birthday last year. The second visible thing was that this blond before them was in a different set of clothing than the Prince.

Still, they were frightened.

When he looked up at them, the trio was seeing the Prince. Same blond hair with bangs that come over into his face, same bright brown eyes with the long corner lashes, same angular face…everything was the same (minus the clothing).

Kise's eyes then looked at Yoshitaka and within an instant he launched himself onto the older male seeming to be crying.

"Moriyama-senpai!" he wailed. "Thank God there's someone I know! What's happening?!"

"Get off me!" Yoshitaka said as he forcibly pushed him away. At the same time that Kise was shoved away, he saw Yukio close in on him with her halberd, stained with a thick disgusting liquid. Inching away from her, he then asked,

"Moriyama-senpai…it's me, Kise. Is this some joke you're pulling?" Even though Kise asked this, he knew he wasn't. When he looked around the room, he could tell that he was not in his house anymore, but the only familiar face he's seeing is Yoshitaka's.

"I don't know how you know my family name," Yoshitaka started. "But Ryouta never calls himself 'Kise'."

"That being said, who are you?" Yukio asked.

Kise looked at her and for the life of him couldn't recognize her. He blew it off as someone he just didn't know. "I'm Kise Ryouta." He answered swiftly. The way Yukio had the halberd poised at his body made him remember his mother.

"There's no way you could be." Ryouji said, joining in. Seeing him, Kise froze. Ryouji looked a lot like his father and him. If Kise didn't have sisters back home, he'd honestly think that this boy here was his brother.

"Where's your proof?" Ryouji asked.

Hearing that, there was only one thing that came to his mind. Ever since he was little, his mother always told him that if anyone asks him for a proof of his identity, he should show them his left ankle. And that Kise did.

"This is my birthmark. I am Kise Ryouta." He declared. "Who are you?"

She chuckled darkly. "You claim to be Ryouta and yet you haven't recognized your own Senpai?"

"He recognized me, though." Yoshitaka piped in.

"Shut up! You know I'll kick you!"

At that moment, it clicked. "Kasamatsu-senpai?" Kise asked. There was only one person he knew would kick anyone.

"Oh, so you do know." She smirked.

Aghast, Kise blurted, "Why are you a female?! With _breasts_?" For a fact, Yukio did have the perfect sized breasts. In his shock, Kise was tempted to touch them to see if they were real, but he resisted the urge. After all, this Yukio was in heels; he wouldn't want to be kicked while she has those boots on. Yoshitaka and Yukio were taken aback, Ryouji cracked up in the background.

"What do you mean?"

"The Kasamatsu Yukio I know isn't a female."

Yoshitaka gaped and gripped the fabric at his chest. He seemed to stagger a little as if this was overbearing news. Yukio … she just looked shocked out of her wits. It wasn't that this 'Kise Ryouta' before her wasn't the one she knew, but the fact that there was another 'Kasamatsu Yukio' out there in existence with a different gender to boot. But before she could ask the blond anything, they heard the clearing of a throat.

"I'm sorry but, you'll experience a little pain, okay?" Ryouji said with a soft voice to Kise.

"Wha ―" before he could even finish, he felt his body wracked with pain before collapsing on the floor. His consciousness faded into black.

"Let's go you two." Ryouji then said. "I'll go get Papa; we need to get to the bottom of this before Mom comes back."

 _xxxx_

"I want to know where the hell are you from." Ryouhei said. "You said Japan doesn't exist, which means, from my perspective, you're from another world. But I can't understand how Yamato City and Kanagawa exists, but Japan does not."

Ryouta's eyebrows rose. "Well, that would explain the existence of a country that I never heard of. I can't answer that part. Japan isn't real in my world." He then slumped in the chair. "Well, first and foremost, I'm the third Prince of the Kaijou Kingdom, located on the Teikou Continent."

Ryouhei and Ritsuko looked irritated; Ryouta wondered if he said something wrong.

"Honestly, if I hadn't seen my son get dragged into that glowing magic circle, I'd seriously cut out your tongue right now." Ritsuko said.

"Mom! What did I do!?" he screeched in horror. Well, at least some things never change.

"There's neither such continent as Teikou nor any kingdom with the name Kaijou." Ryouhei answered. "The only 'Teikou' and 'Kaijou' in existence are both schools."

"What?" Ryouta roared. "Schools?! How?"

"I don't know." Ryouhei shrugged. "Anyway, continue telling us about your origins. Who are your parents? Who are the other two Princes, if you're the third one?"

"Well, my parents are you two ―King and Queen of Kaijou, Kise Ryouhei and Ritsuko. I have two older brothers ―Ryouma, being the older and Ryouji being the second _._ "

"You have brothers?!" Ryouhei said in shock. "I only have two girls and one son being you."

"Hoh?" Ryouta raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."

"Why were you holding onto that weapon?" Ritsuko asked. She then looked around and saw that it was gone. "Where'd it go?!"

"It's my spear. And I keep it in my ring." Ryouta moved his thumb around as if it was something the whole world knew. "I mean, why is it a surprise?"

"Why?! Are you an idiot? How is something that tall able to fit in that ring?!" Ryouhei asked. "Hell, how is anything able to fit in a ring?! Doesn't it hurt your finger?!"

"Wait, this is an inter-spatial ring. It's used for storage. Like, everyone has one or a few. And no, it doesn't hurt." He said with a frivolous laugh. "Don't you guys have it?"

"Obviously not!"

"Seriously? This is something anyone can buy. Well, it depends on the storage capacity. The more it's capable of holding, the more money for it."

Ryouhei paled. "Is that like a fucking thumb-drive or something?"

"Thumb-drive?! Who still uses those ancient things anyway!? I've never seen one except in my Engineering History textbook!" Ryouta guffawed. "As a matter of fact, those were deemed ancient even before my grandfather was born!"

This was it. Ritsuko had had enough. So, she leaned towards her husband and whispered in his ear, "I'm going to finish dinner. I leave this in your hands."

When Ryouhei saw her face, she looked ghastly pale, and decided that it's for the best. She then left, and headed straight into the kitchen.

"Why'd she leave?" Ryouta asked.

"You're too much for her." Ryouhei sighed. "Now, tell me everything we need to know. About your world, about you yourself, your country, _everything._ In exchange, I'll answer you as best as I can."

"Deal." The Prince smirked. "But can you handle it? I mean, Mom just left."

Ryouhei laughed at the boy. "One thing you should know, when it comes onto 'getting transported to another world' kind of thing, _never_ underestimate a Japanese."

And thus, the two engaged in what would seem to be a 'Questions and Answers' session. And just like Ryouta had wondered, his answers had floored Ryouhei. Being an editor, he was used to reading books of this genre. But never before has he ever encountered a book, be it in his company or on a bookshelf in a store, which has a plot such as Ryouta's world.

So far, he's gathered that Ryouta is from another called _Sekai_ which, in essence was like a parallel of Earth with a few differences. One of these differences is that there is the presence of _Mana,_ which allows people to cast magic. Mana is still not completely analyzed as yet, but Ryouta told him that normally, it's invisible, but if enough is gathered in a small place, then it becomes visible. Another thing, when Ryouhei asked what exactly is Mana, if it was like air or a liquid, Ryouta shrugged and said:

"Scientists are still trying to find out. But, in my opinion, it'll be more like air. You can't see it but you can feel it in your body when you're about to cast magic."

In addition to that, Ryouhei learnt that Sekai's technology far exceeds that of Earth's. The Prince demonstrated his storage ring; by hovering his hand over the table, it was sucked in the ring like a vacuum, and when the Prince waved his hand, it reappeared from the ring.

Another piece of Sekai's technology Ryouta demonstrated was his cell phone. It was stored in his ring so there was no damage done to it. At first, Ryouhei thought that it was a regular touch screen phone like theirs but boy was he wrong.

When Ryouta took it out, a small 'chibi-like' person appeared on the black screen. He had blue hair with bright red eyes and was dressed casually ―a black v-neck t-shirt and what seemed to be white jeans and matching shoes. He was adorable!

Ryouta then said, "Open up the damn phone, I need to get in."

And the chibi-like person responded, "So mean, Ryou." With a pout and everything. Ryouhei nearly fell off his seat. What is more, this chibi-like person called 'Kei', unlocked the phone and did everything that Ryouta told him to.

"In my world, cell phones come with an AI," Ryouta had explained. "You do know what an AI is, right?"

Ryouhei had gotten pissed at this. "We aren't that dunce!"

"Just checking," the blond shrugged. "Anyway, if I want I can make Kei do everything as I just showed you. Another example would be if someone texts me and I'm busy, Kei has enough sense to message them back saying 'I'm busy doing something, talk later'."

"Without you saying anything to him?" Ryouhei asked.

"Of course. Kei isn't an idiot." The Prince shrugged. "However, if I'm reading a novel or drawing or something trivial, Kei would ask me if I want to reply or not."

"But wait, how would Kei know that you're doing something?"

Ryouta didn't respond. He simply placed the phone on the table face up, and told the AI 'to get out'. The lens of the front camera shone, as though it was taking a picture and there stood Kei, in full colour in all his holographic glory. He even waved at Ryouhei with a blinding smile. Kei was able to walk around and sit, but he was restricted to the phone's face. But Ryouhei had to admit, Kei was quite adorable.

But apart from that, Ryouhei had also learnt something quite…unnerving.

According to Ryouta, if Kise was dragged into Sekai, then the blond would _have_ to learn how to fight with a weapon since there are existences called _Bakemono._ These are creatures that attack and destroy indiscriminately, and what's worse, the school he goes to trains them for such future combat.

Ryouhei started to fret for his baby boy. Although his son was a black belt in martial arts, he had a feeling that it will be useless against the Bakemono that the Prince had previously described.

 _xxxx_

By the time Kise came to, he realized that he was in a closed room with wooden walls and floors. But when he tried to move his body, he couldn't. He knew he was sitting up straight on a chair as he could feel the sensation, but he just couldn't _move_. His head and eyes were fixed on the person before him, and if he could have fainted, he would have done so.

On the other side of the table, there was a tall man with average amount of muscles. He had light blue haired neatly combed, somewhat reminiscent of Midorima's hairstyle and warm blue eyes. There was no mistaking it, seeing the man was akin to looking at an older version of his Kurokocchi, which meant, the man was Kuroko's father.

"You're finally up." The man said. "It seems Ryouji went a bit overboard." He said with a chuckle. Kise didn't know whether or not the man was trying to lighten mood because it sure as hell wasn't working. "I'm Kuroko Hikaru, Chief of Police. And you are…?"

"Ki-Ki-Kise Ryouta." He stuttered. Kise was close to panicking. He couldn't move his body, all he could do was sit and look at Hikaru which he deemed frightening.

"Hmm…" Hikaru leaned forward as if he didn't believe him. "And how old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"Let's cut to the chase, where did you come from?"

"Eh?" Kise really didn't know how to answer that, but thanks to his knowledge from manga and anime, he swiftly said, "I'm not sure what you mean but I live in Yamato City in the Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan." But when Kise answered, he noticed that he was starting to feel dizzy. He thought that it was probably the effect of being in this forced position for so long, as it seems he was like this when he was unconscious. However, the feeling didn't go away.

Hikaru raised an eyebrow. "Prefecture? Japan? Boy, what are you talking about?"

Kise started to break out in cold sweat. Not because he was scared of the man, but because he was feeling like he was going to die. "I'm from Japan. It's a country on Earth, third planet in the solar system, Milky Way galaxy. A prefecture is a district under the authority of a governor. Japan has a total of forty-seven and ―"

"Wait just a minute." Hikaru said, stopping him. "You say your planet is Earth, right?"

"Hai." Kise managed to utter out but his voice was strained. He then saw the man jump out of his chair and turned his head to the left, tilting upwards.

"Get a doctor and a Regulator in here now!" he barked. Looking at his face, Kise could tell that Hikaru was worried about something. Was it that they knew about Earth? Did they think Earth was dangerous? But what's that about Regulator? At least a doctor was coming, he felt like he was being torn apart.

But just then, a searing pain ripped through his body and Kise couldn't help but scream out. Hikaru dashed to his side and with two taps of his index and middle fingers, Kise could move again. He was just in time to cover his mouth as he felt something rise within his throat. He coughed and what came out on his hands left him speechless.

"Fuck." Hikaru swore.

Blood.

Kise trembled from the shock, but nevertheless, the pain was not subsiding. He then felt Hikaru grab hold of him and turned him on his side. With his insides on fire, Kise felt numb. His vision was getting cloudy with red, and not long after he couldn't even register what was going on. His consciousness was fading, his mind was going blank.

"Shit, where is that doctor?!" Hikaru said in frustration. "He's even bleeding from his eyes."

Within a moment's notice, the door of the room bust open and a beautiful woman in a white coat entered. More like sprinted. Without hitch, she slipped on what resembled a headband onto Kise's forehead, and in that instant, his body spasms stopped.

"Men! Let's get him out of here!" she barked. Just then, three men on what seemed to be a hovering stretcher entered the room and Hikaru gently placed Kise on it. The stretcher glowed red the instant his body touched it and everyone's face paled.

"God speed!"

"Yes Ma'am!"

…

The doctor exited from the room to meet with Hikaru, Ryouji, Yoshitaka and Yukio. Seeing their faces, she let out a sigh.

"He'll live." She said. "There's no need to worry at the moment."

"So what was the problem?" Ryouji asked.

"He has no _Vault_ which means that his body was sucking up mana like a sponge. Because of this, it was building up too much in his body and killing him."

"Oh shit." Yoshitaka said in shock.

"Then it's a repeat of the case five years ago, right Ayane?" Hikaru asked.

"You could say that." Ayane answered with a sigh. "But really, what happened? How is Prince Ryouta and this boy…?"

Hikaru looked at Ryouji, Yoshitaka and Yukio. The two then recounted the incident and upon hearing everything, Ayane was shocked. Hikaru then added his bits from the interrogation. Putting the information together, Ayane then realized what was going on.

"I still need to question him some more." Hikaru sighed. "That way, I can have an idea of where the Prince may be."

"You have to wait until he wakes up." Ayane said. "Ari tells me that he'll be up in a few hours."

"Then, we'll wait." Ryouji said.

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review!**_


	2. The Other World

Chapter 2

 _The Other World._

 _..._

His Majesty the King Kise Ryouhei couldn't believe it.

Not too long ago, his second son, Ryouji had burst into his office, teary eyed and speaking too rapidly for him to comprehend anything. But when the boy finally calmed down, King Ryouhei was able to understand the situation, and a dreadful one at that. His third son, his precious little punk had acted on his shitting impulses _again_ and had ended up somewhere no one knew. Add to that, in desperation to get him back, Yoshitaka, Yukio and Ryouji made an attempt.

But sadly, they didn't get back the Third Prince of the Kaijou Kingdom Kise Ryouta, but some other Kise Ryouta who, up until this moment seemed as though he hadn't recognized Ryouji. They were close after all; instead, he clung to Yoshitaka.

King Ryouhei then entered the room where it all happened, and saw the mess. There were blood splatters all over the walls, and thank God it was blood from that damned monster. The books and their shelves were all either in disarray or destroyed. He knows he'll have to repurchase all these books again. But what struck him were the spell circles on the ceiling and the floor.

According to Ryouji, Yoshitaka told him that Ryouta used the one on the ceiling to leave, while they used the one the ground to get him back. But something didn't sit right with the King. First, how the hell did a _Bakemono_ end up in his son's room? There was no way they could get past the barrier they've set up. And what's more, there hasn't been a single report of any other attack in the Kingdom. After all, those lower life-forms aren't so sensible to target one _specific_ place like his son's room.

The second thing was that if Yukio followed Ryouta's magic circle and only added the 'return' character to it, then it should have opened up where his son had gone. It's the standard law of spatial magic. So, how is it that they managed to take the wrong Kise Ryouta?

The third thing was that there was a world out there with duplicates of the people here? Remembering Ryouji's words, he said that the other Ryouta recognized Yoshitaka at first glance and had even addressed him by his family name. However, he didn't recognize Yukio because in his world, Yukio is a male.

King Ryouhei felt a headache coming and his wife and eldest son aren't even back from their diplomatic trip yet. Deciding to take a breather, he exited the room, only to end up encountering a member of the palace staff.

"Your Majesty!" he said as he made a bow. "The Prince has awoken!"

"Just in time," King Ryouhei smirked. He wanted to have a chat with the _other_ Kise Ryouta after all.

…

Kise woke up at long last, and stared up at the white ceiling. He looked to his left and saw a huge window, but the only thing it revealed was what Kise deemed to be the sky. However, unlike Earth, the sky wasn't blue but sea green. He then looked to his right, and saw that there was a bedside table, which was empty except for a button.

"Must be the hospital, huh?" Kise said to himself. But then he wondered about the machines he's always seen on TV. There were none of those that read his heart rate and showed his heart rhythm's on lines on a monitor, there wasn't the other that measured blood pressure. But what he found was that there were suction like things on his arms and chest; it was similar to ones of Earth, but there were no strings attached. But around his neck, there was a thick choker, resembling a leash.

Kise then slid out of the bed, although he had to stumble a bit since his body felt sluggish. "How long have I been out for?" he wondered to himself as he made his way towards the door.

But as soon as he placed his hand on it a siren went off and a machine-like voice saying,

« _Your Highness, as a patient, you are unauthorized to leave this room. Please return to your bed until further notice_. »

"Excuse me? Who are you? Can you hear me?! Let me out!"

"Your Highness, please refrain from creating such noise. You are in a hospital." The door finally slid open to reveal a young female, the same one who Kise saw come to his rescue when he was being interrogated. But what stunned the blond ace was the fact that she addressed him as 'Your Highness'. Kise was sure he was no royalty.

"Umm…"

"At least return to your bed first." The female started. "We can talk once you've done that."

Kise obeyed and swiftly returned to his bed. As soon as he was settled, the female said, "I'm Mizutani Ayane, your doctor. What is it that you'd like to know?"

"Everything." Kise replied. "Where am I? How did I get sick? Am I Prince or something?"

Ayane whistled. "I'll only tell you what made you sick. I'll leave the rest to your father."

Kise nodded.

"In this world, there is the existence of what we call Mana. What is it exactly, we're not a hundred percent sure yet. But, Mana is present everywhere, it's invisible to our eyes; still, if a certain amount of it is gathered in one place, it becomes visible." Ayane explained. "It's similar to air. You can't see it, but you can see a Tornado, right?"

Kise nodded once again.

"Thus, our bodies absorb Mana to be able to use magic. But to prevent the excess from poisoning our bodies, we have a ' _Vault_ ' that regulates the mana within our system. But you, who don't have that organ, you kept absorbing mana and it stayed in your system. It was killing you."

"Mana was killing me?" Kise said as though he was analyzing the information. "So you got it out, right?"

Ayane laughed. "I told you, didn't I? Mana is like air. With every breath you take, you're inhaling both oxygen needed to survive and mana needed for magic. The most we can do is store the excess in a device."

Kise placed his hand on his neck. "You mean this leash."

Ayane laughed. "It is a known fact that your father has always wanted to put you on a leash. But yes, as long as you're here, mana will be in your system. But the regulator around your neck prevents it from reaching fatal levels by storing the excess."

Kise pondered. Mana was like air, so it'll always be inside his body but the regulator is there to prevent it from killing him. But, what if the regulator fails? He'll die, won't he?

"This regulator…what if it malfunctions?"

"It won't anytime soon, but you'll have regular check-ups to ensure your safety. After all, you are the Third Prince." Ayane said with a playful voice. "Even if you come from another world."

"Why do you even have regulators in the first place if you all have 'Vaults'?"

Ayane sighed. "Because people get injured and their Vaults become dysfunctional. So to prevent death, the Regulator was invented."

"Ryouta!" A voice took them out of their conversation. The door slid open and a man who had long blond hair which was tied in a low ponytail with two bangs coming down the side of his face entered. His green eyes were cloudy with many emotions, but he was well dressed. He wore a lavender suit ―a lavender blazer over a black dress shirt and lavender pants. He wore no tie; instead, he left a few buttons undone.

Kise gaped. The man was a carbon copy of his father back on Earth; the only difference is the hairstyle. The man then approached Kise and sat in the chair next to the bed.

"How are you feeling now?" King Ryouhei asked.

"I'm fine, thanks." Kise replied. "So umm…am I going to be executed or something?"

"No, why would you ask that?"

"Because I found out that the Ryouta of this world is a Prince, but I'm not your Ryouta."

"I know." King Ryouhei sighed. "And don't worry, you'll be safe. I can't punish you for my son's actions. If anything I want to apologize."

Kise was relieved. "No, it's fine. I've always imagined what it would be like to get transported to another world anyway."

King Ryouhei raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"It's a popular genre of fiction. You know, the premise in which a main character somehow finds himself in a fantasy-like world with magic and mythical creatures."

King Ryouhei could only stare at the teen in amazement. He was forcibly taken from his world and he's here talking as though nothing much happened? Such bravado. Getting back to reality, King Ryouhei said,

"We have no such fictions." In the most serious voice he could muster. "But that's not the issue here."

Kise had a feeling where this is going. He's seen it happen many times in manga and anime, and he prayed that the Ryouta of this world was not to inherit the throne. He'd shit himself if that was the case.

"My son is missing." King Ryouhei started. "You're here, so you'll be the Prince until we get him back." The King lowered his head. "Please?"

Kise let out a groan. As if he has any other choice. He's in another world, and the only thing that could make him be at ease is to be around people that he's used to. Well, in this case, people's faces that is the same from his world. Plus, this Ryouhei was his father basically, so where would he go if he refuses?

"Fine." Kise said. "I'll be the Prince's stand-in."

"Great!" King Ryouhei perked; he was too excited for his age. He then turned to Ayane, "When can he leave?"

"Tomorrow." She answered.

The King frowned. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, I am Your Majesty." Ayane sighed. "I have to make sure everything's fine. He isn't from our world, remember? He isn't that sturdy."

Kise felt offended. "Are you saying that I'm weak?"

"Yes, you are. Pathetically so." Ayane said bluntly. Kise nearly tore up. His lips trembled and his eyes watered, and seeing this, King Ryouhei took swift action. Even though Kise was not his Ryouta, he couldn't ignore the boy. He was, essentially his son, just from another world. With a swift action, he then hugged the boy and rubbed his back.

"There, there." The King soothed. "It'll all be alright. Daddy's here."

Kise was not amused.

 _xxxx_

Ryouta lay with his face turned up to the ceiling. After having the talk with Ryouhei, the Prince didn't know what to think of this world. For one, he thought he'd die due to the backward technology, but when he ignored that, he felt as though he could stay here. One reason being ―he was no Prince. On Earth Kise Ryouta was just an ordinary commoner, who went to school, and aspired to become a pilot (whatever that was, Ryouhei planned to inform him more tomorrow). The only thing 'princely' about him was his good looks. Which meant, there were no restrictions to his actions. He could become whatever he wanted, whenever wanted.

Hearing that, Ryouta had grinned. All his life, he's been preparing for ruling. Even though his big brother will inherit the throne, he still has to be groomed into a King in case anything happened. But here, he doesn't have to.

The second reason as to why he'd want to stay here is the fact that there are no Bakemono attacks. Like, that should have been the number one reason, but he likes killing those damned monsters. It allows him to let out all the pent-up frustration he has accumulated. Beautiful stress relief.

Still, he was currently bored.

It was late, the sun's gone down and Ryouhei didn't want him out on the road. The older man had told him that he'll give him a tour of the City and Tokyo's popular places soon, so for today he just had to rest. But the Prince was too excited to rest.

He then got up and headed back into the adjacent room. When he had first arrived, he noticed that there were bookshelves and deduced that maybe Earth's Ryouta was similar to him. He walked to the first bookshelf and took down a random book. But when he opened it, he was stunned.

In the book, there were panels and in these panels there were drawings. The drawings looked like people, and to say it piqued the Prince's interest was an understatement. Immediately, he dashed out of the room and headed towards Ryouhei and Ritsuko's.

"Daddy!" he screeched.

"What is it?" Ryouhei groaned. He was really glad that this other Ryouta was similar to his son in some ways.

"What is this beautiful piece of Literature?!" he shrieked with excitement.

Ryouhei looked astonished. "It's a manga. You don't have it in your world?"

"No we do not!"

"Keep your voice down!" Ritsuko sighed. "It's late."

"Sorry Mom." He pouted. "But this is amazing!" he shouted with glee and skipped the pages. "But I can't read it. How do you read it?"

Ryouhei and Ritsuko paused in horror.

"You can't read the characters?" Ryouhei asked.

"Yes I can," Ryouta responded. "I can read perfectly well, I am a Prince after all. I just don't know how to read these boxes in correct order."

The two parents let out a sigh of relief. They had thought about the worst case scenario where Ryouta couldn't read Japanese.

"I'll teach you tomorrow. Plus, you're holding the fifth volume of that manga. If you read that, you'll be confused." Ryouhei said. "We have work tomorrow, so we need our rest."

"Come on~ just tell me how to read it. It won't take long." He whined.

"That's not the point. I was sleeping and I have work tomorrow. Now go back to your room."

"Daddy~" he whined.

Ryouhei glared at the boy. "Go. Back. To. Your. Room. _Now._ "

Seeing that scary ass face, Ryouta didn't try to persuade him any further. If this man was like his father back home, then angering the man would only lead to his demise. But, Ryouta was still pissed that he couldn't read the manga today.

"Fuck," he whispered beneath his breath as he exited the room. Luckily, neither parent heard him or else Ritsuko would have probably cut his tongue out. Heading back to his room, he placed the book back on the bookshelf and stared at the magic circle on the floor. Looking at the characters, he saw 'return' and a small smile graced his face. If he had arrived here earlier, then he would have been back in his world.

But thankfully, whoever created this magic circle took the other Kise Ryouta.

"Hmm, I wonder how _he's_ doing." Ryouta said aloud. "I wonder…"

He trailed his hand over the characters and that's when he felt it. Mana. It was seeping out of the magic circle, but the strange thing was, it didn't expand into the room's entirety. It was only concentrated at the magic circle.

Ryouta grinned for the umpteenth time.

"If it's like this, then I can still use magic without fretting that I'll run out of Mana." He then laughed. "Maybe I should prepare for world domination."

But then he had a wild thought. He wondered what would happen if he fed the magic circle some Mana. He did just that, and immediately he saw the circle disappeared to show his destroyed room. He placed his other hand on the picture but saw that he couldn't cross over.

However, knowing that this is possible, he wanted to know what had become of the other Kise Ryouta. He prayed that he wasn't executed for attempting to impersonate him, because, well, he wasn't. But sitting here was not going to solve anything. So, Ryouta decided to call out.

"Hello?! Anyone home?!" he shouted. And luckily his walls were thick; because he was sure that Ryouhei would come storming in here to strangle him.

"Otouto!?"

Seeing the face on the one person he'd prefer, Ryouta shrieked in delight. "Ji-nii!"

 _xxxx_

Ryouji headed back to the 'crime scene'. Although a nurse had come to inform him that 'his little brother' has awoken, he couldn't go look for the boy just yet. It wasn't that he was avoiding him, Ryouji wanted to find a clue to his _real_ little brother before it was too late. He wanted something ― _anything_ that told him that his little brother was alright. That he'll be okay.

So deep into his thoughts, Ryouji had ended up at Ryouta's room. The investigators were on their way, and well, since his father didn't want the whole world to know that the real Prince was missing, this was not a priority.

Making his way into the boy's reading room; Ryouji heard a shout…from an all too familiar voice. Dashing towards it, he saw that it was precious little brother, Ryouta.

"Otouto?!" he asked in his disbelief.

" _Ji-nii!"_ Ryouta responded in that regular high pitched shriek of his.

"Are you alright?!" Ryouji asked. "You're not hurt are you?!"

" _Nope! I'm fine!"_ Ryouta perked. _"Listen, Ji-nii. There are no Bakemono here!"_

Ryouji was shocked. A world with no Bakemono attacks? Was such a thing possible? "You bastard…" he started with a chuckle. "Talk about having the devil's luck." But, he quickly got back into his serious mode. "Where are you?"

" _I'm told I'm in Japan, on a planet called Earth."_ Ryouta replied. _"It's a different world or rather a different dimension altogether. There's no magic here, and from what I gather so far, they don't have inter-spatial devices, and they still use thumb-drives."_

"Holy shit. You'll die, Otouto!"

" _No way! Minus the fact that their technology is behind ours, I don't think this is a bad place. Plus, I'm no Prince here. I'm free to do whatever I want."_

"You can't be possibly thinking that…"

" _Heeh?"_ Ryouta cut him off, not wanting his brother to say what he was intending. _"By the way, how's the other Ryouta doing? I hope Daddy hasn't executed him."_

"Ah no, he's fine but he's just awoken."

" _Awoken? What?"_

Ryouji let out a sigh. He then recounted the events that happened after he disappeared in the magic circle. Ryouta laughed at his brother, but had also commented that if they had delayed a little, maybe they would have ended up getting him back instead of Earth's Kise Ryouta.

But when Ryouji told him what happened to his doppelganger because of Mana, the Third Prince couldn't utter a single word. Ryouji wanted to laugh at his brother's face, but this matter was too serious.

Just then, he heard a shout and saw Ryouta looking frightened.

" _Sorry Ji-nii."_ He said. _"I gotta go before Daddy catches me."_

"Daddy?"

" _Yeah, this world's Kise Ryouhei."_

"Oh."

" _Yeah, so we'll talk later, right?"_

"Of course, just shout me up." But Ryouji wondered about the time on the other side. His little brother was in pyjamas which indicated that it was nighttime, but over here, the sun was still high in the sky. But anyway, he shrugged it off as just a simple time-zone difference.

…

Ryouji was forced to exit the room when the investigators arrived. Accompanied by Chief Hikaru, the second Prince was asked nicely to exit. But, before he did so, Ryouji related the information to the Chief and he let out a sigh of relief ―glad that the third Prince was alive and well.

They then departed ways, Hikaru going to inform the team to leave the magic circles be, while Ryouji went to find his father. This was good news, at least, Ryouta was safe and going to be safe since that world has no Bakemono. Add to that, it seems as though they'll be able to communicate through the magic circle.

After walking the long hallways and up a glass staircase, he ended up on the next floor. He then sprinted towards the only silver door on the hallway which was located at the end.

" _Papa!_ " He shrieked as he busts open the door.

"Fuck Ryouji! Don't scare me like that! And…" Ryouhei started as his eyebrows twitched with anger. "…how many times do I have to say 'knock on a closed door'?!"

"Sorry, I was just so excited to tell you this."

"Tell me what?"

"I spoke with Otouto! He's fine but the most important thing is that he's safe and we can believe what the other Ryouta says!"

"Woah, stop." King Ryouhei said, holding up a palm. "How did you speak with Ryouta?"

"Through the magic circle on the floor. I heard his voice calling, I followed it and lo and behold, there was my precious little Otouto in pyjamas! He looked so adorable!" He cooed.

"Why didn't you call me?!"

"Papa, who the hell was going to come all the way up here just to call you for that?" he mumbled. But this time he spoke louder so that the King could hear. "I wasn't thinking. I just wanted to know if he was going to be alright."

King Ryouhei sighed. "You said should we could believe the other Ryouta."

"Ah yes," Ryouji said as he took a seat in the chair. "When Chief Kuroko was interrogating him, he said he was from Japan, on Earth. Otouto told me the same thing without me telling him what the other Ryouta had said."

"I see."

"Yeah, and we can communicate with Otouto with the magic circle. He can't cross over though." _And seems like he doesn't want to,_ was unsaid but King Ryouhei could tell that his son wanted to say something more.

"That's good. That's good." King Ryouhei smiled. "There's something I'd want to tell you as well."

"And that is…?"

"The other Ryouta has agreed to be our Ryouta's stand-in. And as such, I need you and Ryouma to get him up to par before school reopens. Also," he added, "Tell Yukio and Yoshitaka to inform the rest of his club what happened."

"But Papa, why can't you do it?"

"I'll have a headache tomorrow."

Ryouji's eyebrows furrowed. "Talk about planning ahead." He joked.

"That's not it." The King placed his chin on his fingers and a dark worrisome aura emitted out of his body. "Your mother and older brother are coming back tomorrow."

"Oh shit." Ryouji said. He got the message his father wanted to convey. When they come back and find out that _their_ son and little brother is in another world and a different one is here, all hell will break loose. "They'll turn him into mince-meat."

"Exactly. That's why I'll have a headache."

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review!**_


	3. A Day in the Royal Capital

**_A/N: Thank you for all your faves and reviews and follows!_**

 ** _Enjoy!_**

* * *

Chapter 3

 _A day in the Royal Capital._

...

By the next day, Kise was back to his bubbly self. He was getting discharged and finally going to be free of this hospital. It wasn't that the hospital was bad, if anything, compared to the aura on Earth, this was far better. He just didn't like to be restrained. One other thing he noticed was that the leash was gone and transformed into a small choker.

"Ryouta~!" Ryouji sang as he entered the room. "Did you miss me~?"

"Uh, not really." Kise replied. "I'm not used to having an older brother so…"

Ryouji looked mortified. " _Huh?!_ "

"I have two elder sisters."

"But ―!" he stopped himself. Remembering the incident with Yukio, Ryouji deduced that it's probably the same case. "So, I'm a female in your world?"

"Yes. With a female name too." Kise grinned. "Your name is Reiko."

Ryouji's face twisted in disgust. "How disturbing." However, he perked up as though nothing happened, "But anyway, let's get you out of this hellhole." Ryouji then waved his thumb and what seemed to be a shopping bag appeared. Kise was shocked at this and made a mental note to inquire about it later.

It was then Kise noticed what Ryouji was dressed in. And honestly, if he wasn't a male, if he wasn't his relative, and if he didn't have eyes for his Kurokocchi, Kise would have had his heart stolen right there. Ryouji wore a white t-shirt underneath a black leather jacket and matching pants with white sneakers. At the sides of his pants were two chains, each of different thickness and length which seemed to be attached to his belt hoop and his back pocket. To complete the look, he rocked a dark pair of sunglasses. Ryouji was _hot_ in that outfit.

"Here," Ryouji said as he threw the shopping bag to Kise.

When Kise looked in the bag and saw the type of clothing he was appalled. There was a white fitted jeans pants, along with a royal blue turtle neck shirt and a white blazer. Beneath that, there was a pair of white and blue sneakers and a silver chain.

Kise was shocked. Well, he had been ever since Ryouji stepped in. Yesterday when he had just arrived and was interrogated, he hadn't taken notice, but now it was all coming at him. If this is a fantasy-like world, why were they in such fashionable clothing?

"What's wrong Ryouta?" Ryouji asked upon seeing the look on Kise's face. "Don't hesitate to take them. I bought them for you because I forgot to bring clothes from home."

"Isn't this a fantasy-like world?" Kise asked.

"Remember, what 'fantasy' is for you, will differ from what 'fantasy' is for us."

"This is a world with magic and Kingdoms right?"

"Yes, even though there are a handful of republics and democracies elsewhere in the world."

"So why do you wear these fashionable clothes? Shouldn't you have some breastplate armour and some medieval like clothing? I've been wondering this for a while now."

Ryouji looked irritated. "You fucker, you think our Kingdom is some backwater wasteland?" he snarled. "Look _Ryouta,_ you better get rid of those shitty preconceptions if you don't want to seem like an idiot."

Kise flinched. He had simply asked a question and this was the response? In his fright, he found himself nodding to Ryouji which earned him a smile from the older blond.

Kise quickly got dressed, and when he was done, Ryouji applauded him as looking quite dashing. Thus, the two boys headed out of the room and Kise ended up even more shocked. The hallways were pristine, painted in a very light green with the floor tiled. All around, he could see cameras poised on the ceiling and watching them.

They then headed into what seemed to be an elevator, and when Ryouji pressed the button for the ground floor, Kise saw a light and felt nothing. But within a split second, the door opened and they were at their destination.

"What was that?" Kise asked, looking back and forth from the elevator to Ryouji.

"What was what?"

"Normally, I'd feel when the elevator starts moving. But I didn't this time. And what's with that light?"

"Oh! We directly moved to the ground floor from the third."

"Directly?"

"Like, hmm…" Ryouji scanned his brain for the right word. "…like teleported so to speak. There's a magic circle in the floor that reacts whenever a button is pushed."

"Well shit."

"Yes, it's good shit. But it's only in hospitals though." Ryouji chuckled. "Our drive is already waiting out front, okay?"

"Yeah,"

After passing the reception, the two boys exited the hospital and Kise was caught in a daze once again. The buildings around were beautiful and clean. Across the street, there were multiple stores with their signs displayed in holography. People came and went, and similar to Ryouji (well, some degrees lower than him), they were dressed in casual clothing that seems reminiscent of Earth.

In his daze, he hadn't noticed that Ryouji had walked off towards a car.

"Oi, Ryouta! Come on!" the older blond called to him. Immediately, he snapped back to reality, only to freeze up once again. Their drive was a royal blue car with spinning white rims. Still, Kise let out a sigh of defeat. Being a fantasy world, he thought that their ride would have been one of those wooden carriages, pulled by horses. Instead, it was a pristine car that looks like it came straight out of Toyota's factory.

" _Ryouta!"_ Ryouji snarled again. "I have a fucking date to get to! I don't have time to waste! Move those scrawny legs and get in the damn car!"

"Yes Sir!" he said and sprinted towards the open door. Even though this was another world and Ryouji was a male, he was no doubt just like his female counterpart on Earth ―Reiko.

The drive back to the Palace was a quiet one; Kise was constantly looking out the window to avoid Ryouji's eyes. He couldn't quite understand him, as sometimes he seems so nice and big-brother like and the next, he seems like he hates him. But then again, Reiko is the same. She's a doting sister who's really rough on the edges. But remembering what Ryouji said prior to him getting in the car, made Kise wonder.

Since when do Princes date? Don't they get in an arranged marriage and that's it? Shaking his head to rid the thoughts, he continued looking out the window.

The scenery was…normal, much to Kise's displeasure.

Clear, sea green skies with cotton candy clouds were like a backdrop to the towering buildings and busy streets. On Kise's left, there were what seemed to be stores of varying trades and sizes closely packed together creating dark and narrow alleyways between each.

These buildings seemed to be made out of steel and concrete as one thing was for sure, they looked hella sturdy. Kise wanted to look to the other side, but he didn't want Ryouji to think he's staring at him. Getting on his bad side would be bad for his health.

He continued his gazing, and found that this area isn't so different from Japan in terms of the atmosphere. People are casually going about their businesses, friends and couples could be seen walking and chatting, while some were sitting at outdoor cafés.

But the cafés that caught his eyes were definitely different. At each table, there were humanoid robots which were serving the customers. At first glance, Kise would have thought that they were humans, but he stared long enough to see the robot move off from one table to the next ―it had no feet. Instead, what would be the legs was attached to a hovering platform.

Soon, they turned right onto another road, and drove for a while until they came to an abrupt halt. At first, the two boys thought that they were at a stoplight, but when the waiting became unbearable, Ryouji asked the driver,

"What's the matter, Jin-san?"

"It's traffic, Your Highness." Jin responded politely.

"What? At this hour? Shouldn't the roads be free at this time?"

"Indeed, but there seems to be ―" Jin broke off as a loud explosion shook the area like an earthquake. Kise pushed his face even closer to the window to see what had caused that, but he couldn't due to the sharp angle. But what he could see (Ryouji and Jin as well) were the pedestrians running away, some with their cell phones videoing. But one thing was evident; they didn't seem to be scared.

"The hell's happening?!" Ryouji shouted as he leaned forwards to Jin.

"I can't see exactly, Your Highness. But what I can tell is that there's fire and water magic being used up ahead."

Ryouji slumped back in his seat and rolled his eyes. "Isn't this _fantastic_?" He said folding his arms. His voice was also laced with sarcasm.

Just then, the sound of a siren went off, and Kise saw people in uniforms dropping in from above after which some escorted the pedestrians to safety and some dashed off ahead. These uniforms seemed to be somewhat simple ―a black long sleeved shirt, with large crests on both sleeves. They also wore ties which matched their epaulettes on the shoulders, which Kise saw were varying in colour. Some had red epaulettes; some had blue and so on. Around their waists were thick black belts, which secured their pants and skirts; for the males, their pants shins were covered by black boots and for the females, along with the boots, they wore thigh high stockings which greeted their skirts' hems.

The racket up ahead continued, but the reactions of the pedestrians made Kise feel much better. They were walking instead of running and some were even taking pictures. It seemed that whatever was happening was under control.

"Ryouta, don't worry so much. It's not good for your skin." Ryouji said leaning over and patting Kise's cheek.

"I can't help it. I'm not used to this. Where are we, by the way?"

"Ah, but when your world has magic and thieving bastards feel like they can do what they want, then it's almost an everyday occurrence. I told you, we aren't a utopia. We have crime rates you know." Ryouji sighed before he answered Kise's question. "We're in the Royal Capital, Kanagawa."

"Kanagawa?" Kise said. He then turned his back to the window, seeming to be in deep thought. He was in _Kanagawa?_

But Ryouji could feel the distance. To him, it felt as though Kise was keeping away from him. Ryouji didn't like it one bit. He was his _Otouto,_ just not from this world.

"Ryouta, do you hate me?" He asked.

"Eh? Why would you ask that?"

"You're all the way in the corner, and you're barely talking to me."

"I don't hate you. If anything, I think that maybe you hated me. I mean, you shouted at me and called me a 'fucker'."

Ryouji laughed. "I shouted because I called you more than once and you didn't budge, plus I have a date with my girlfriend. I worked too damn hard to get her; I can't let all that go down the drain. I called you that because well, it slipped out." Ryouji then threw a hand over his shoulder and pulled Kise close to his face. "Don't take it serious! Imagine when Ryouma-nii gets back. You'll be in tears!" he guffawed.

"Ryouji, that's not funny." Kise pouted.

"A-Adorable!" he shrieked. "You really are my little brother!" He then fished into his pocket and took out a touch screen cell phone. "Do that pout again! I want to add it to my collection!"

"Collection? What?"

"Fufu," the older blond crackled. "You're just too cute for your own good. Obviously I'm going to have pictures. Look ―!"

Yet another explosion. Ryouji had nearly bitten his tongue due to shaking of the ground, and seriously he was getting pissed.

 _« Drivers and Passengers, please stay in your vehicles. Do not exit. I repeat, do not exit. »_

"Tsch, they should hurry and get the job done. Fuck," Ryouji hissed in anger. "If those bastards make me late for my date, I'll kill them."

Kise cringed. If the Second Prince was like this, he really wouldn't want to encounter the First. Then, he thought about what the Ryouta of this world behaved like. Kise shivered. He hoped that his reputation isn't at stake.

"Ryouji, what's the other Ryouta like?" he then asked.

"Hmm, well, he's short tempered and a punk sometimes. He has a very sharp tongue and can be really feisty. He's blunt and straightforward and a shitty son a bitch sometimes." The Prince answered somewhat absentmindedly. "But he's _so_ cute and adorable! Especially when he pouts and begs! He has this cute face whenever he sleeps and this adorable habit of playing with his fingers when he's nervous! Gawd!" he then cooed. "He's like a playful little kitten too!"

"So…" Kise started to fret. If someone like that is loose in Japan, he couldn't even imagine the disaster that could happen. "…is my reputation in danger?"

Ryouji smiled. "Probably."

But before Kise could say anything more, there was another explosion, before hearing yet another announcement which indicated that all was safe, however, they had to detour since the road up ahead was damaged.

This set off Ryouji even more, but Kise was thankful that Ryouji's anger wasn't directed at him. Everything went back to normal, Ryouji chatting away as though they were best friends. It was then that Kise learned that the other Ryouta was indeed close to Ryouji and the two would often time 'play' together. When Kise asked what do they 'play' and how, Ryouji only responded with a smirk:

"If I tell you, you'll faint."

Once again, Kise started to fret. Looking through the window, he wondered just what kind of world was he dragged into.

"Hey Jin," Ryouji called. "Could we go get something to eat?"

"Yes, you can." The driver said. "Where do you want to go?"

"I don't know." Ryouji shrugged his shoulders. "What do you want to eat?" He asked Kise.

"I can't answer that. A burger, maybe? Or maybe ramen…"

Ryouji sighed. "Let's just go to a café or a restaurant. Ramen shops are on the other street, and fast-food restaurants are packed at this time of day."

Nodding at his new brother, Kise saw Jin turn left onto a street where the buildings all had decorative signs. Neon signs hung low off the walls, for some, the sounds of blaring music could be heard, the bass making Kise's heart race.

Just then, Jin turned yet again, and after passing a couple buildings, he pulled over at the side of the road. He parked in front of a building, one which was painted in a burnt colour and chocolate coloured window panes.

Hopping out of the car, Ryouji skipped inside with Kise following, looking a bit apprehensive. The younger blond looked around the place and was left in awe. The interior was modern with chic wall art. But one thing caught Kise's eyes. The chandelier. It was massive, the light-bearing arms were curved upwards while the lights themselves were in the shape of trees.

"Wow," Kise breathed out.

"How may I help you Sirs?" A young male approached them and said.

"Table for two, please." Ryouji replied.

"Right this way."

The male led the two towards the free table, but all the while, Kise was left in awe. There were large dining room windows framing a beautiful view of the garden outside. The outside's floral arrangements blend in nicely with the painted walls. There was no music playing, instead there were only sounds of other people's conversation, the clinking of glasses and cutlery or the sounds from outside.

There were cozy tables dotted around with beautiful tablecloths and comfortable padded chairs. One thing Kise noticed was that the tables were not clustered together; instead, there were spaces in between them so that the large tables won't overshadow the small ones.

But Kise noticed, inside was quiet and elegant. The staff wasn't obtrusive like some of the ones on Earth, as a matter of fact, there was an air about them that made Kise feel welcomed.

"Are you ready to order, Sirs?"

"Yes we are." Ryouji responded. And within a minute, the waiter left, leaving the boys together. Kise kept looking up at the chandelier which attracted Ryouji's attention. "You like it or something?"

"Yeah, it's pretty." Kise answered. "But seeing it, it reminds me of a song I heard couple times on Earth, even though it wasn't in my native language."

"I'm gonna swing from the chandelier~ from the chandelier~" Ryouji sang. He hit the right notes at the right time perfectly. But his amazing voice didn't stun Kise, it was the song. It was the same as the one from Earth, sung by an American female singer.

"That song was played almost every where with a chandelier when it just came out." Ryouji laughed.

"Haa, I see." Kise didn't know what to talk about so he kept his eyes on the outside. The view was beautiful; the towering trees had blazing red leaves which complimented the rosy pink flowers below. The flowers were so much that Kise couldn't see the grass, but either way, the sight was one to behold.

"It's so pretty." Kise said aloud without realizing his volume.

"I know right," Ryouji said in accordance.

"Is it autumn here?" Kise then asked. "The trees leaves are red." _Although, it's too red._

Ryouji raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What's autumn?"

Kise paled. "Autumn is well, that time when the trees shed their leaves and it's right before Winter."

"What's Winter?"

"Winter is the coldest time of the year." He deadpanned.

"Oh…" Ryouji said in realization. "It's not Autumn but ' _Aki'_ and it's not Winter but ' _Fuyu'._ "

"Huh?"

"Don't worry my cute little otouto, all will be explained in time. And no, we're not in 'Autumn'. It's _Haru._ "

"Haru?"

"The season which signifies new beginnings! It's also the season right after your 'Winter'."

"Oh! Spring!"

"That's what you call it?" Ryouji laughed. "It's so _tacky_."

"No it's not!"

"Yes it is! It reminds me of those ancient beds that used the metal springs in their mattresses!"

"Not!"

"Is too!"

"Not!"

"Is too!"

Finally, their meal arrived; the boys stopped their petty argument. Looking at the food, it looked normal much to Kise's relief. Being in another world, he thought that he'd have to eat something more…less favourable. On the dish there were grilled skewers of meat which lay neatly atop what Kise thought were edible leaves. Beside those was a small bowl of white cream-like substance.

"Time to dig in!" Ryouji shouted, drooling. He took up the skewer and dipped it in the bowl before eating it. Kise followed suit, but the moment he started to chew, he felt the urge to vomit.

"What is this disaster?!" he choked out, heaving and trying his best not to vomit.

"Disaster? Otouto, your mouth is the disaster." Ryouji said with a mouthful of food. "This is absolutely delicious!"

"It's nasty!" Kise countered, his face turning green as well. "It's absolutely sickening."

"It isn't. Your taste-buds are used to Earth's food; so of course, you may think that our food is nasty." The older blond reasoned.

Kise started to cry. "I believe if Mana doesn't kill me, I'll starve to death before." He sighed. "I miss Japan's rice. I want rice."

Ryouji laughed. He then turned to the left and made eye contact with a waiter. "Hey, could I have one special rice bowl?"

"Yes Sir." He bowed and left.

"There were rice bowls?! And you have me eating this atrocity?!" Kise shrieked. "How could you?!"

"But it's Kirin meat. I thought you'd like it."

"Kirin meat? What's it like? A Cow? Pig? Lamb?" Kise asked.

Ryouji stared at Kise for what seemed to be an eternity before he answered. "I have no idea what a cow, pig or lamb is, but the Kirin is a four footed mammal with a lot meat, if that's what you're asking."

Kise internally face-palmed. How could he have forgotten?

However, all that was about to be forgotten when the waiter returned with the rice bowl. Kise's face brightened at seeing something familiar and using the chopsticks that were provided, Kise dug in.

"This is delicious! I won't starve!" Kise said with tears of joy streaming down his face. But in his joy, he hadn't realized Ryouji snapping pictures of him with an evil grin on his face.

"That's it my cute little brother…" he cooed. "…keep making those expressions."

…

Reaching back to the Palace, the two blonds hopped out of the car and headed down a long corridor. The walls were painted in a rich royal blue with many framed pictures being displayed. On the left wall, Kise saw pictures of sceneries ―one was a beautiful and lush blue meadow, the one beside it was of a waterfall in the jungle. On the right wall, he saw pictures of what he thinks are animals. One was a tiny four footed creature, covered in what seemed to be white fur. Its eyes were bright and orange but behind it were two fluffy tails. The creature was cute no doubt, but seeing the two tails on its body left him shocked.

"What is that thing?" Kise asked aloud.

"It's an _Inu._ " Ryouji replied. "They are really adorable and soft."

"Inu?"

From his ring, Ryouji got a small notepad and pen and wrote the name. Kise immediately perked up, recognizing the word. "You mean, Dog?! Why didn't you say so?"

"I didn't mean Dog! What the hell is a 'Dog' anyway?"

"It's Earth's equivalent to that creature." Kise said as he pointed on the picture. "But ours don't have two tails, or orange eyes."

"How boring." Ryouji sighed. "Honestly, I wouldn't want to live in your world."

"My world is fun, if I do say so myself." Kise countered.

The two boys then continued their walk and headed up some glass-like stairs. There was yet another corridor but at the end, there was a massive white door, and Kise had a feeling that that's where they were headed. Throughout their walk, there were people dressed as maids and butlers who kept greeting them; Ryouji returning their equally polite greeting, Kise followed his new older brother by doing the same.

They reached the white door and Ryouji knocked thrice before they heard a "Come in, you brats!"

Kise remembered the voice, knowing it was from the King.

"I'm not a brat, Papa." Ryouji started as he skipped inwards. "I'm _so_ hurt."

Shyly, Kise greeted the King, "Hello, Your Majesty." Add to that, he didn't want his head to be chopped off for being insolent.

King Ryouhei laughed. "If only my son was this polite. Loosen up, Ryouta."

"Yeah, it'll be awkward for your son to be so respectful all of a sudden." Ryouji laughed.

Wasn't he supposed to show respect to the King? In the mangas and anime he's watched, a King's children always referred to their father as 'Father' with a capital 'F', or 'Lord Father' or simple 'Your Majesty'. Has he been tricked yet again?

"Ryouta, please don't shy away from us. We won't bite if you don't anger us." King Ryouhei smiled.

 _Ugh, I'll try my best not to._ Kise thought. He made his way to the King and the Second Prince, and what the King said next almost left him in tears.

"Since you're my son's stand-in, there'll be a lot of pressure on you." The King started. "First, you'll have to know this country like it was your own Japan." Kise nodded, he'd expect as much. After all, he was pretending to be a Prince. "Secondly, you'll be taught two different types of lessons ―one for catching up to Ryouta's school knowledge and the other for what Ryouta learnt as a Prince."

Kise looked lost. "I understand the last part but school knowledge? Isn't he a Prince? What's he doing at school?"

"In the Royal Family, we attend school like normal. It's been like this since…" Ryouji started, "…almost forever."

"What? Then don't you guys get special treatment or something? Isn't that unfair for the other students?"

"Nope, because the Kingdom doesn't know what we look like yet. They don't even know our names." Ryouji grinned.

"Eh?"

"You'll eventually learn this." Ryouji said as he patted his back. "I mean ―" he broke off as he phone rang. Dashing out of the room, he answered the call, but Kise and King Ryouhei couldn't hear his conversation (not that they wanted to).

"So Ryouta, how are you faring?" King Ryouhei asked.

"Uh, fine I guess." Kise replied. "I got really scared today, though."

"Oh, because of the gang?"

"It was a gang? I don't know. But there was a loud explosion and people in uniforms and all sorts of crazy stuff."

"It's not crazy, it's normal." The King sighed. "With everyone being able to use magic, not everyone obeys the laws put in place."

"Laws? That reminds me, why do the police, I presume, wear different ties that match their epaulettes?"

"One at a time." King Ryouhei chuckled. "The Laws are simple, unless you are a police officer or someone from the Defense Force, the use of grand magic is prohibited in a public space. The only leeway one has with grand magic is if they are in the presence of authorized personnel." The King explained. "The Police wear different tie colours to indicate their element."

"Element?"

"Yes, magic is entirely elemental. There are five elements ―Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, Lightning & Thunder."

"I take it Lightning & Thunder is classified as one, right?"

"You're quick." King Ryouhei smirked.

"So does that mean, red represents Fire, white represents Wind, blue represents Water, brown represents Earth and yellow is Lightning?"

"That's right." He then leaned forwards. "I have a feeling you'll make a very good Prince."

"Haa…I'll try my best." Kise sighed.

The door then opened to reveal Ryouji who had a sullen look on his face. The King covered his mouth so as to not burst out laughing but Ryouji wasn't looking. Kise then wondered if this was some inside joke, and that if the other Ryouta was here, would he be laughing as well?

"Let me guess, she broke up with you?" King Ryouhei asked.

"Yes," he said in low voice. "That ungrateful bitch."

Kise wanted to ask why he's calling his recent girlfriend a bitch, but he withheld his tongue. The Second Prince looked like he was about to snap both in anger and sadness.

"Damn it, what's wrong with me?" Ryouji asked.

"There's nothing wrong with you, my boy." The King said as he got up from around his desk. He then embraced the boy in a hug and rubbed his back. "You just keep choosing the bitches."

"But-but Papa," Ryouji sounded like he was about to tear up.

"It's alright; you'll know the right woman when she appears."

"This is quite touching." Kise said to himself. He felt King Ryouhei's affection back at the hospital when his doctor had stated that he was pathetically weak. It seemed that the King was quite loving and affectionate to his children just like his father was on Earth. But at the same time, he wondered where the hell did this come from? Didn't Ryouji said that he had a date to get to? Why the sudden break up?

"Darling~!" A voice said in a sing-song. The door flew open to reveal two people, a woman and a young man. The woman was beautiful, with silky black hair done in a chignon. She wore sophisticated clothing ―a white peplum dress with a small keyhole collar at her chest. She wore red crossed strap closed-toe stiletto heels which were held securely around her ankle by a thin buckle. To match her shoes, she wore a genesis necklace with red beads and same genesis red earrings.

Seeing her, Kise could immediately tell she was. She was none other than his mother's counterpart ―Queen Ritsuko.

Beside her, Kise deduced that the blond male with the piercing green eyes was Ryouma. The left side of his hair was pushed back behind his ears while his right fringe hung slightly over his eye. He was dressed in the same colours as his mother, red and white. He wore a white cardigan over a red dress shirt which he folded into a cuff at the elbow over the cardigan. His white jeans was emphasized by his blazing red belt, his shoes were red as well. Around his wrist he wore a golden watch with diamonds embedded in the wristband, while on his fingers of the same hand, there were two rings on his index and one on his thumb.

Kise was floored.

He knew his mother would look gorgeous because even on Earth, she was extremely stunning no matter what she wore. But Ryouma…Kise almost tore up. He felt like he was the average looking one of this family. King Ryouhei was great-looking, Queen Ritsuko was stunning, Ryouji was handsome and Ryouma was just to die for. In times like these, Kise was happy that he was a male, if he wasn't; just by seeing Ryouma, he'd think that he just found a reason to live.

"Ritsu!" King Ryouhei released Ryouji and sauntered over to his wife and embraced her in a bone-crushing hug after which he gave her a kiss. "Welcome back."

King Ryouhei then moved to hug Ryouma who seemed to be waiting on it. Kise felt like he should have left and when he had stood up to leave, he saw Ryouma and Ritsuko's eyes locked onto him.

As if sensing the danger, Ryouji jumped in front of Kise, King Ryouhei restrained Ryouma.

" _Ryouji."_ Queen Ritsuko snarled. She looked absolutely murderous, and poor Ryouji who was acting as a shield for Kise, was trembling. "Who the hell is that?"

Just by hearing her voice, Kise could tell that she was livid. Using his mother as reference, the only time Ritsuko would call any of her children by their names was when she was pissed.

"I can explain." King Ryouhei said, totally unfazed. "Ryouji can too."

Ryouji was so frightened that he couldn't move. Queen Ritsuko and Ryouma backed down, but the murderous glares didn't. Kise felt like he was being strangled, and he just wanted to get out of there.

"Alright, he's Kise Ryouta but not ours." King Ryouhei started. "He's from a different world."

And without even allowing the Queen and the Crown Prince to say anything, Ryouji spilled everything that happened yesterday. Throughout the story, Queen Ritsuko and Ryouma's faces changed from anger to shock. They then looked across to Kise with pity.

"You poor soul," The Queen said as she shook her head. "To be forcibly hauled here must be mortifying. Add to that, you almost died."

"Uh, uh," Kise couldn't find the words to answer the woman.

"But don't worry, we'll take very good care of you," Ryouma grinned sinisterly as he threw an arm over his shoulder. "New Third Prince of the Kaijou Kingdom."

Kise had a feeling that his life was just getting worse.

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review!**_


	4. A Day in Akihabara

_**A/N: Thank you for your faves, reviews and follows!**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

Chapter 4

 _A day in Akihabara._

...

Meanwhile on Earth…

Ryouta woke up and after stretching, he headed directly to the bathroom. There, he brushed his teeth and took a shower before heading downstairs wondering why the place is so silent. When he reached into the living room, he saw Ryouhei and Ritsuko dressed neatly in suits.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To work." Ryouhei responded. Ryouta internally face palmed himself. He was so used to his entire family working from home that he forgot. "Be a good boy and _don't_ leave this house, _don't_ answer to strangers, _don't_ ―"

"Yeah, yeah and I shouldn't take the apple from the old woman dressed in rags." Ryouta sighed, referring to a fairy tale.

The two parents let out a chuckle and did to Ryouta what seemed to be a ritual ―ruffled his hair and kissed him on his forehead. Ritsuko then pointed to the microwave in the kitchen and told him that once he hears a 'ding' sound, he should eat his breakfast. But Ryouhei wrote down their numbers (both cell phones and work) for him to call them should anything happen.

Ryouta nodded, this was just like his parents back home.

But before they could have left, the doorbell rang. With a raised brow, Ryouhei went to answer. Opening the door, he saw a teenage boy, with an all too familiar face. Ryouhei actually grinned. The boy before him had neatly combed black hair with his bangs slightly covering his eyebrows in the gentleman hairstyle. His eyes were narrow shaped with his pupils being a very bright blue. He wore a black shirt with green cut-off jeans and matching sneakers.

"Good morning Hakase-kun," Ryouhei greeted. "What brings you here?"

"Good morning Kise-san," Hakase greeted. "Have you forgotten that Ryou and I had plans to go to Akiba today?"

Ritsuko and Ryouhei exchanged glances. _Oh right…_

But hearing this, Ryouta perked up. Using the verb he heard in the final part of the sentence, Ryouta judged that this 'Akiba' is a place. And if it's a place, he'll be able to leave this small matchbox. Add to that, there was a Hakase Mahiro in this world as well. No worries about trying to figure out what the other Ryouta was like around him.

"That's right!" he perked. "Let me go get dressed!"

"Wait just a minute!" Ryouhei shouted. Immediately, the blond froze. He turned around to see Ryouhei inviting Hakase into the house. Ritsuko then called Ryouta over and the conversation that took place next, left Ryouta gaping.

The two parents actually told the boy of his predicament.

In this world where there is no existence of magic, how could they tell someone something of this magnitude? Back home it would be quite believable, ― _plausible_ rather, since there are teleportation circles used for travel.

"So that's why I couldn't get through to him on his cell phone?" He heard Hakase ask.

"Yeah, Ryou probably had his cell phone on him."

"This is…this is…I can't even find words to say. _That_ Ryou isn't my best friend?" Hakase looked absolutely mortified. He then waved his hand in a gesture which signalled he needed some time. He turned his face away, and neither of the Kises could see what expression he made. They heard some heaving, and they even saw him shaking. But not wanting this to turn out into something nasty or heart wrenching, Ryouta stepped closer to the boy.

"Mahiro," he started. "It's true." He then raised a hand and after he did so, yellow Lightning crackled around it. "Can your Ryou do this?"

Hakase stood there frozen. He gaped at the boy's hand for what seemed like forever before being snapped back to reality by Ryouhei.

"You really are from another world…" Hakase breathed out. "Tell me! What's it like!? Are there dragons!? Are there Adventurers?! Are there ―" he broke off due to Ryouta placing a finger on his lips.

"If you want information on my world, I suggest you take me to this 'Akiba' place you and the other Ryouta were designated to go. Exchange is no robbery, right?" The Prince smirked.

Ryouhei and Ritsuko let out sighs of relief. The only reason why they agreed to tell Hakase was because they needed someone to aid him while at school. After all, the boy was from a different world, Ryouhei didn't want him to unleash his Lightning on anyone who pissed him off. This Ryouta seemed like the short-tempered impulsive type.

"Deal." Hakase grinned.

"Hakase-kun, this is dangerous. I can't have ―"

"Daddy~" Ryouta whined and clung to the man. "We'll be fine. I promise I won't use my spatial ring or my magic. Please let me see the world." he was begging, being all pouty and using the upturned eyes tactic.

"Gah!" Ryouhei said as he turned away his face. His son was just too cute to handle. "You can go, but not today."

"Why?" Ryouta whined. "I want to see the world! Don't be so stingy!"

"I'm not being stingy! You don't have a Japanese cell phone or rather, a chip from a Japanese network in that thing. The crowds are pretty heavy today, what if you get separated from Hakase-kun?"

"Ku…"

"Secondly, you don't know the area. You don't know the train lines; you don't even know your address." Ryouhei reasoned. "I'll let you go anywhere you want with Hakase-kun, but not today. Please understand."

"He's right, Ryouta." Hakase said, using 'Ryouta' instead of Ryou. "You came here yesterday, right? I'll give you some geography lessons and stuff. We can always go next week."

The Prince couldn't argue. He knew that Ryouhei was right, and gave in. He returned to the sofa and sat with a loud 'plop'. His face was downcast, but everyone present could tell that the Prince was eager to go out.

"Hakase-kun, please keep this boy safe and off the streets." Ritsuko said.

"Well, that's kinda steep. I mean, Ryouta can wield electricity. If he wants, he can electrocute me and escape." He said with a chuckle.

"Thanks for the idea." Ryouta joked.

"But I'll try my best." Hakase said to override what the Prince said.

"And I won't escape. After all, Mahiro can _always_ teach me how to read a _manga_ , unlike someone I know."

"I know what you're hinting at." Ryouhei said with a half-smile. "Remember, I am your father, there are places I can take you that Hakase-kun can't. Choose who you want to piss off wisely."

"Shit," he mumbled.

With that, the two parents left, but of course, Hakase was left in charge of everything. The poor boy didn't even know whether or not to feel psyched up about learning about another world or that he's been put on babysitting duty until the Prince gets used to the country (which he doubts is anytime soon).

"Great, now that they're gone, Mahiro," Ryouta said with a smirk. "Let's go to this Akiba place."

"Ryouta! We can't! You heard your father!" Hakase tried to reason. "If we go out and then we're found out, what do you think will happen to me?"

"Nothing." The Prince shrugged. "I mean, I can threaten to kill you with my magic if you don't do my bidding. Obviously, Daddy won't do anything to you." But then, the Prince's face darkened. "That said…" Lightning crackled all over his body as if signifying that Ryouta could end him within a flash. "Let's go or else…"

Hakase sighed. He knew that if he tried to argue with him, he really might get electrocuted. There was something about this Ryouta that Hakase could tell was different from his best friend.

"Your Highness," he started. "Go get dressed so that we can head to Akiba."

"Yosh!" Ryouta cheered and dashed up the stairs. Hakase followed shortly after him, to ensure that he dresses appropriately. Like Kise, Hakase thought that Ryouta's world was like those depicted in fantasy manga ―medieval like clothing and buildings, so he wanted to ensure that the Prince knew what to mix and match.

"Ryouta, I'm coming to help you pick ―" He broke off as he saw what the Prince was in, although he was more appalled about the speed at which he changed. Ryouta donned a red v-neck t-shirt and a white knee length pair of shorts. To secure his pants, there was a black belt with studs on the bands. Also, he wore a red converse to match his shirt. On his wrist was the watch he had arrived with from his world.

"Help me to pick what?"

"Nothing, nothing at all." Hakase replied. But then he remembered something. "You need to wear some sunglasses."

"Why?"

"To hide you from fangirls."

The Prince was lost at that statement and had asked, "Why do I have fangirls?"

"Because you're a model. Well, my Ryou was."

The Prince said nothing more. There are models in his world as well but to think that he was one in this world was really disheartening. He thought that the other Ryouta would at least invest his free time into something more worthwhile…like engineering or researching stuff. He twisted his face in disgust as he hasn't the time to be standing in front of a camera in pretty clothes and looking good.

"Fuck," he snarled, startling Hakase.

"Dude, what's wrong with you, now?" he asked. "We're going to Akiba, alright?"

"It's not that. I don't want to be a model."

"But Ryou likes doing it, so you have to."

"No I don't."

"I'm pretty sure that Ryou doesn't have a choice in your world, right? He has to become you, a Prince. At least you can do this much for him."

Ryouta hated that Hakase was right. "Tsch. Even in this world you manage to piss me off with your reasoning."

Hakase smiled. "Of course. But there's another me in your world?"

"Yes," Ryouta nodded. "But we aren't best friends. We're more like close friends who have similar interests."

"Heeh?" Hakase smirked. "Ain't that interesting?"

"You have no idea."

The two boys left the house, and walked towards the station to catch the next train to Tokyo. However, when they reached, Hakase noticed the unbelievable crowd. Since it was the weekend, this was to be expected. Add to that, there were many sales occurring in Akiba today so a lot of patrons wanted a piece of that cake. Ryouhei had warned them of the crowd and if he loses the Prince here, Hakase knew he'd be dead.

"Look, Ryou ―Ryouta," he said. He chose to call him Ryouta so as to not mistake him for _his_ best friend the _Japanese_ Kise Ryouta which he calls Ryou.

"Hmm?"

"Hold onto me. Anywhere is fine."

"Why?"

"You see this crowd? I can't lose you!"

"All I'd have to do is send a signal in the air and you'll come running right?"

"And if someone sees you do it, you'll be taken to be some lab rat!"

"I'll just bust myself out."

"And then they'll announce it on TV, this boy is extremely dangerous and should be caught immediately. Your life will be over."

"Fine." Ryouta succumbed and held the boy's hand, entangling their fingers together.

Hakase flinched away. "Don't hold my hand like that! People will think otherwise!"

Ryouta frowned. "You just told me to hold onto anywhere and now you're bitching about it? Make up your damn mind!"

"I'll just hold your wrist."

"Fine. As long as we get to Akiba, I don't care what you hold onto."

"That phrasing is…off."

"By the way, where's this 'Akiba' located?" Ryouta said to change the subject.

"First, Akiba is just a nickname. The city's real name is Akihabara. And it's located in Tokyo."

Ryouta gaped. " _Huh?_ Then it's just like Yamato City and Kanagawa then."

"What are you talking about?"

"When I first came here, I was told that I was in Yamato City, Kanagawa. In my world, there also exists Yamato City, but Kanagawa isn't a prefecture but the capital city of my country."

"Woah,"

"Tokyo and Akihabara are cities in another country called Shutoku. Tokyo, being the capital."

"Well, at least your world got some things right." Hakase joked. "Tokyo is the capital of Japan, and Shutoku is a school that wears an abominable orange sports jersey." The raven-haired boy then smirked. "I see someone's in need of a geography lesson."

Ryouta let out a groan. "Tell me about it."

While waiting on the train, Hakase learnt about Ryouta's world. The Prince showed him his phone and Kei which left the boy floored. Hakase wanted to see Ryouta use a magic spell but he decided to leave that for another time and when they aren't in a crowded place.

Hakase was actually beaming, as this info goes against the majority of the fiction written here. He wasn't all that surprised since it was fiction, but to hear this calibre of information, the boy felt like he was in heaven. Add to that, he was fuming that Kise was currently living in that world and had no means of contacting him. He knows that the boy would have spilled everything to him.

In another minute, the train arrived and the people boarded it. However, due to it passing through other cities before making it here, the seats were all full and there were some people already standing. Hakase chose to enter the train as one of the last people as he wanted both he and Ryouta to be close to the door.

When inside, Ryouta was extremely uncomfortable. He had his back against the door with Hakase in front of him; both of his hands were pressed against the door to use as a brace.

"You know, the trains in my Kingdom are just as packed as this." Ryouta murmured. "But I've never experienced it."

"As expected of a Prince." Hakase said with a chuckle.

"My status has nothing to do with it." Ryouta countered. "It's just that anytime my friends and I take the train, it'll be outside the rush hours."

"I see. But what's a Prince doing taking the trains? Hell, taking public transportation in general?"

"Well, the people don't know that I'm a Prince. To them, I'm just one of the many pretty boys in the country."

"Why don't they know?"

"Dad wants us to feel for ourselves the emotions of the people and things like that without filters. A perk of that, we'll be able to choose the right girls to marry. Plus, I don't want to marry some gold-digging bitch."

Hakase shuddered. This Ryouta is frightening. "I see."

After a few more stops, their train had finally reached their destination. But, as soon as the doors flew open, the crowd rushed out, pushing and shoving the two boys all over the place. Hakase felt Ryouta slipping from his grasp, but tried to snatch his wrist back. However, another surge of people came out of nowhere and pushed Hakase forwards, closer to the stairs.

"Ryouta!" he shouted. But the Prince didn't answer. More like, the Prince didn't hear. "Oh shit." Hakase started to fret. He looked around quickly, hoping to spot Ryouta's bright hair. Sadly, no such luck.

Just then, he heard screaming and frantic chatter. Looking in the direction, he saw a ball of Lightning hovering. With a sigh of relief, he dashed towards it, thinking that this may be Ryouta's way of showing his location. When he pushed and shoved and made his way to the ball, he saw Ryouta standing by the pillar with a frightened look on his face.

"Ryouta, you aren't scared are you?" Hakase asked.

"Tsch, as if." Ryouta scoffed. "I just didn't want to become a lab rat. I have to blend in with the foolish masses."

"Yet, you still did that." Hakase said, pointing his thumb into the air. But by now, the ball had disappeared.

"Well, no one saw me do it. All I did was channel some Lightning along the pillar and then have it accumulate into a ball in the air."

"Thank God." Hakase sighed. He then grabbed the boy's wrist and headed up the stairs to leave the underground subway. But what weighed on Hakase's mind was a way to not lose the Prince. But that thought was quickly pushed away when he heard Ryouta let out a gasp of surprise.

"Amazing! This is Akiba!?"

"Yes Your Highness, feast your eyes on one of Japan's most visited cities."

"Wow, the Akihabara in my world looks nothing like this!"

All around, Ryouta could see tall colourful buildings with many attractive signs. As he and Hakase walked along the sidewalks, the Prince was in awe of the city's uniqueness. On both sides of the streets, there were many patrons as well as people dressed in clothing that the Prince could tell was not a usual thing. One type he could identify was the maids, they were distinct but there were others that stuck out like a sore thumb.

He saw one male dressed in an orange and black jumpsuit, with what seemed to be a metal plate attached to a dark cloth on his forehead. He had blond hair; Ryouta didn't know whether or not it was dyed.

"That guy, why is he dressed like that?" Ryouta asked.

"It's called cosplay. People dress up like characters from anime and manga all the time."

"Oh. And what's his story?"

"The one in the jumpsuit?"

"Yeah,"

Hakase groaned. "He's the main character with a nine-tailed beast sealed inside him by his father to protect their village. The father died in the process, but the blond boy wants to be the number one ninja in his village. That said, he went through all the layers of hell to achieve that dream."

"Nine-tailed beast? Ninja? Interesting. I want to read it."

"Good luck reading off seven hundred chapters plus the sequel."

"I take that back."

Hakase laughed at the boy's swift response. The two continued their walk; Ryouta was absolutely mesmerized by the city's lights. They passed by many electronics shops and many cosplay cafés which were no less than eye-catching. After they rounded a corner, Ryouta noticed one building that stood out the most.

This building boasted six floors with tinted windows. On the sides, there were five orange signs which seemed to take the shape of the staircases on the inside. On these orange signs were the words _Sega_.

"Mahiro, what's that building?" Ryouta asked.

"Oh, that's the Sega building. It's like the mecca of all things electronic." Hakase replied. "It has plenty of video games, anime, manga, you name it."

"So can we go inside? I want to see."

"But remember, we're strapped for time. Who knows when your father may drop in to check up on us?"

"Alright, just the first floor. Please?"

Hakase sighed. "Sure, let's go."

Gripping the Prince's wrist firmly, Hakase moved off towards the building. They crossed the street at the appropriate time, and swiftly made their way inside. Ryouta was appalled. On the first floor, there were many aisles of shelves which had stored a variety of things. To the left, Ryouta saw a shelf full of stuffed toys, which were surprisingly cute. In a way, they reminded him of Kei, only bigger and made of sponges (probably).

"Interesting." Ryouta said as he pressed his face against the glass. "Look, this one has a handcuff! Is he supposed to be a police?"

"Not necessarily." Hakase said. But seeing that stuffed animal, gave the boy an idea. They then looked to the right where there were glass shelves with small boxed figurines; a picture of an anime girl and what seemed to be her friends adorned the cover of the box.

After minutes of looking around, they left the building.

Continuing on the street, Ryouta's eyes were all over the place, getting distracted by all sorts of things. With a tug, Hakase pulled him into another store, which housed a myriad of costumes.

"Why are we here?" Ryouta asked as they walked towards the counter and cashier.

"I'm going to buy us a friendship bracelet." Hakase replied with a grin.

"Really?" Ryouta asked. "Is it necessary?"

"Yes, I don't want to lose you." By now, they reached the cashier and the poor guy managed to hear the wrong part of their conversation.

"You worry too much." Ryouta said.

"More like, I don't worry enough. Your Dad will kill me if anything should happen to you, won't he?"

"And as I said, you'll get off the hook."

Hakase didn't answer, instead he pointed at one of the goods which hung on a wall behind the cashier. Ryouta had already left to look around the store, so he didn't see what Hakase had just bought. After making the purchase, Hakase sauntered over to where the boy was and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I've got it. Now gimme your wrist."

Ryouta extended his left arm and within a swift motion felt a cold sensation. Looking at the 'bracelet' Ryouta glared at Hakase.

"This is a handcuff."

"I know. This way, you'll never be separated from me." The raven-haired boy then placed the other handcuff on his right wrist. He then smirked at the Prince, and the two headed out once again.

The cashier only looked on with a smile, "Young love."

Once outside, Ryouta asked, "Where do we go next?"

"Well, I just planned on showing you around. I can always make my purchases another day."

"Okay, I see."

Just then, they passed by a bookstore and something caught the Prince's eyes. Knowing that they won't be separated, without a word to Hakase, Ryouta dashed inside the book store, forcibly hauling the raven-haired teen with him. The Prince's eyes lit up with joy as he dashed towards a stack of books on display.

"Mahiro," the Prince said. "Look at this one!"

"You already have that at home."

"Really?"

"Did you not take notice of Ryou's bookshelves?"

"Yes I did, but I didn't get to look through them all. How come he has so much anyway?"

"Kise-san owns a publishing house. Of course his son is going to have tons of books to read."

"You're lying." Ryouta gasped.

"Of course not." Hakase chuckled.

"Then what are we doing here?! If I can get free books, then I don't need to be here!"

"Right you are Your Highness." Hakase joked. Quickly, the two exited the bookstore, and continued their adventure in Akihabara. Hakase took the Prince to all sorts of places, electronics stores, game arcades, anime stores and so forth. The Prince was enthralled by all this, especially whenever they came across a cosplayer, attracting customers for a particular store.

But in all this, he found out one horrid thing ―his world was pretty boring.

It was a fact that Sekai's technology far surpasses Earth's, but the amount of recreational activities these people have is astounding. Earth has numerous amounts of manga to read, while in his world, they only have novels and have to rely on their imagination. Earth has anime, Sekai doesn't. Earth has cosplay and cute maids walking around in the streets, Sekai doesn't. Maids are only found in the upper class homes, and some of these maids are humanoid robots. Earth has so many video games to choose from, Sekai doesn't even have _one_.

Ryouta was sorely disappointed that his world had nothing of this calibre. Due to the constant threat of the Bakemono, people in his world are more concerned about combating these creatures instead of creating anime and the like.

 _Mah, I hope Earth's Ryouta can bring some flavour to the Kingdom._

After extensive walking and shopping, the boys settled in a maid café. The two boys were welcomed like real Masters of a house. But being their first time at this café, they had received a card which was called 'Majesty Card'. Ryouta was totally unaffected by this, since he was a Prince by default. A maid led them to their table after which they sat down and Hakase ordered for them both.

"Oi, Ryouta, how are you still so calm?"

"Huh?" The Prince responded. "Am I supposed to be drooling at those maids?" He asked when he saw other males looking like love-struck idiots.

"Well, yeah. There are beautiful girls in maid clothing adding the honorific –sama to your name, how is that not making you drooling?!" Hakase said.

"This is my daily life. I have maids and butlers, bodyguards and all that stuff. There are some maids who even dress me. This is nothing new to me." Ryouta shrugged.

"Oh right," Hakase sighed in defeat. "Damn you."

Ryouta then smirked playfully. "How come you aren't turned on by this?"

Hakase shrugged. "I've been to other maid cafés before." Was his excuse.

"Heeh?" Ryouta leaned forwards to the table, resting his chin on his right palm. "So what was your first experience like?"

"I got a nosebleed." Hakase said shyly.

"You pervert." The Prince joked.

But the mood changed within an instant. "I've been wondering," Hakase began. "Is that watch real gold?"

"Yup! And diamonds too!" Ryouta perked. "It was a gift for my birthday last year! Daddy likes to be extravagant."

"Can I see it?"

"Sure." Ryouta extended his arm towards the boy and allowed him to examine it. Hakase was truly intrigued by it, but when he saw the watch face, he let out a gasp of shock.

"Why are there only sixteen hours here?"

"Because there are sixteen hours in a day." Ryouta answered in a matter-of-factly.

"Eh?! Only sixteen?!"

"What do you mean by 'only'? The hours are long as fuck."

"How can ― how many minutes are in an hour?"

"One hundred and fifty."

"Shit! We have twenty-four hours but there are only sixty minutes per hour."

"Twenty-four hours but only sixty minutes…" Ryouta said as he tapped his chin. "…I bet your days fly off before you can get started."

"You said it." Hakase sighed. "So, tell me more about your world. If you have such technology, how do you travel? I know you have trains and such, but do you travel to other countries? Or do you guys siege?"

"Yes we travel." Ryouta said. "And no, we don't siege anywhere unless we're pissed off."

"Oh. How do you design your aeroplanes?"

"What's an aeroplane?"

Hakase paled. _He can't be serious?_ "An aeroplane is like a metal bird that carries people from one area to the next. A broader definition, it takes people from one country to the next."

"Oh, you mean those ancient flying vehicle with the fixed wings?"

"Yeah." _Ancient?_ But then, he had an idea. Taking out his phone, he searched for a picture of an aeroplane and showed it to the Prince. His reaction, however, was rather bland.

"We don't have those anymore."

"Then how do you get around?"

"Traverse from city to city we use trains and buses and even taxis." The Prince said. "But from country to country we use teleportation circles."

"That isn't free right?"

"Of course not. Our teleportation circles are public transportation; naturally it'll incur a cost per usage."

"How does it work?" Hakase wanted to ask about how much it costs as well, but he didn't since Ryouta's world more than likely uses a different currency.

"Well, passengers go to a terminal with their tickets for a designated place and then they'll be transported. There are different terminals for different places, but some would need a transfer." Ryouta said. "For example, in Kanagawa in my world, there's a teleportation circle directly from there to Tokyo in Shutoku and vice-versa. However, there is none directly from Kanagawa to Sapporo City all the way up North. So, passengers would have to teleport to Yamagata and then use Yamagata's circle to get up to Sapporo."

"Hmm, that's similar to transfer flights out here. Some countries don't have a straight flight to certain areas so they essentially do the same thing as your world."

"Heeh, really?"

"But why do you have teleportation circles and not some super aeroplane?"

"It was created to prevent deaths during these long travels."

"Deaths?"

"In my world, there are creatures that suddenly appear we call Bakemono. These creatures can appear in the sky, beneath the earth and sea or in any forest ―anywhere really. Except for cities because barriers were built to ward them off." Ryouta explained. "So, to prevent people from being harmed when travelling, we use these teleportation circles so that people can arrive safely at their destination." He then added, "Plus, there are wild beasts out there too, you know."

"Woah, that's pretty cool." Hakase nodded. "So, these teleportation terminals, don't they get packed with people along with their luggage and all?"

"We have Inter-spatial devices." He answered as he waved his thumb. "They can be a ring, necklace, anklet, earring, purse, bag, et cetera. But the rings are the most popular, so people are seen heading in the terminals with no luggage so to speak. But, there is a scanner in the terminals which tells security what they have in the rings to prevent smuggling."

"I see. But these Inter-spatial devices, how do they work?"

"Depending on the storage capacity, they're able to store anything the user wants. By holding your hand over the item you want, it's automatically absorbed in the ring. For the purses and bags, you have to put the item in there." Ryouta then laughed. "Only the Military's devices are big enough to store cars and huge ass weapons. But these devices cannot be worn by people since they're bigger than our limbs."

"Oh…" Hakase was beaming. "Inter-spatial devices…that's really cool! I wouldn't have to carry a bag to school anymore if I had one of those things!"

"They're cool _now_." Ryouta said laughed. "Back in the day when they were just being introduced, people stole like crazy. It was almost as though 'Thief' had become the main occupation. And because of that, crime rates soared to catastrophic levels and the police and military were stressed out."

"Why?"

"Well, spatial devices allow you store anything in them. All you have to do is wave your finger over the item, if you use a ring. It leaves no fingerprint, no DNA, nothing. Obviously, people are going to steal."

"So how did they combat this?"

"Like the terminals, stores are equipped with a scanner. So when you enter the store and before you leave, the security scans it, and if you don't have a receipt for the item, you know what happens." The Prince answered with a shrug. "For some other stores, people have to leave their devices before entering the establishment."

"But what if others try to take it?"

Ryouta laughed. "Obviously people aren't just going to leave their devices out for the world to take. When you leave your device, you get a number that corresponds with it. But it's your bad luck if you lose it."

"Your world is pretty awesome!"

"Mahiro, I think you're glossing over something important. My world is dangerous; there are Bakemono in my world. They're monsters that are good for destruction."

"But you guys have magic and cool weapons right? So what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that sometimes these creatures are more than we can handle. Either they come in massive waves or there's that one which is too powerful."

"Damn, so don't you guys have bombs or guns or missiles?"

"What are those?"

Hakase sighed. For someone who comes from an advanced society, he was surprised that Ryouta's world didn't have some of the things here. Once again, he searched for the weapons he just listed and showed them to the Prince. But, the Prince could only shake his head.

"You don't have these things? How come?" Hakase asked in shock.

"I don't know." Ryouta shrugged. "I guess it's because we have magic, we didn't think about these things."

"That sounds plausible."

Ryouta then smirked. "But I have a feeling that your Ryouta might spice things up a bit."

"What do you mean?"

The Prince shrugged. "If your Ryouta is the least bit like me, then he's not going to sit around being bored. I mean, I was constantly experimenting with chemicals in the labs to alleviate my boredom sometimes."

"Wait, you like science?"

"Of course! Well, I only like it because it gives me the little freedom that I don't have. Being a Prince, my future occupation was already decided long before my great-great grandfather was born. I can mix whichever chemicals I want, whenever I want without anyone breathing down my neck saying that 'You're the next head of the army and blah'." The Prince then grinned. "I just love the way you can make Nitrogen Tri Iodide from the reaction iodine and concentrated ammonia solution!"

"Ah, the explosiveness and shock sensitive properties are just to die for!" Hakase cooed. "Gawd!"

The two boys ended up shrieking which caused people to stare at them with confusion. Quickly, they turned their faces to the window, to hide.

"To think that we're both science nerds." Hakase chuckled. "Ryou didn't like science one bit. I often tried to scam him into joining the science club but failed every time."

"Naa, Mahiro," Ryouta started. "It seems like _we_ can become best friends. Introduce me to this club of yours."

"It isn't that easy. You have basketball."

"Basketball? What's that?"

Hakase sighed. "It's a sport. And you're the ace of the team. In essence, you're ranked number one in our school."

"What's a sport?" The Prince asked. "But shit, does this mean I have to play basketball too?"

"Yeah, your club depends on you, you know?" Hakase said. "A sport is a competitive game done for entertainment. Some sports are more individualistic, while others are done in a team."

"We don't have any sport in my world. People are too busy trying to defend against Bakemono." But then Hakase saw the Prince chew on his right thumb nail. "Fuck! I want to experiment!" Ryouta started his repulsive whining. "Back in my world, I could only do science as an extra-curricular activity!"

"Oi, oi, calm down." Hakase tried to soothe by rubbing the boy's back. "You can be in more than one club, but it's just that basketball takes a lot of time. There's training, practice matches, tournaments and training camps that lasts for days…"

"I'll make it work. All I need to do is figure out how to play this damn sport, right?"

"I can't help you with that. I don't play basketball so I can't teach you."

"What the hell are you good for?"

"Science. Manga. Anime. Literature."

"Tsch, so how are we going to solve this problem? If I'm number one, then won't it be strange that I suddenly can't play the sport?"

"That's right. Maybe if we tell one of the regulars on the team then…"

"Meh, isn't that a bit too risky?"

"Moriyama-senpai has a flexible mind; Kasamatsu-senpai will just kick the knowledge into you or something."

"I don't want to be kicked by her." Ryouta said folding his arms and shivering. Well, he attempted to fold his arms but due to the handcuff, he couldn't. "Yukio is fucking scary, you know?"

"Her? Kasamatsu-senpai isn't a female."

"What? She's male over here?! That's disturbing!" Ryouta said twisting his face in disgust.

"Oh no, I think the female Kasamatsu is disturbing."

"Let me tell you something, she's one of the hottest girls in school. I have a picture." Ryouta took out his phone and instructed Kei to find Yukio's picture. When the small AI found it, Hakase let out a gasp of shock and horror. Yukio was indeed beautiful, and hella feminine. She had the right amount of fat in the right places, had a nice body, nice hair…everything.

"She's a package." Hakase said in awe. "She's your girlfriend or something?"

"Nope!" Ryouta denied proudly. "She's exclusively and strictly Yoshitaka-senpai's. I'm still searching for _someone_ who loves science as much as I do."

"No…" Hakase gasped at the information. "Just imagining those two together is making me cringe! Dude! You didn't have to tell me that! I just can't imagine Kasamatsu-senpai and Moriyama-senpai together! No way!" he shrieked in disgust. But then he addressed the other part of Ryouta's sentence. "Good luck with that. In this world, those girls are rare species."

Ryouta gave Hakase a smug look after which he chuckled. "They complement each other. But don't worry about me. I have a feeling that the one I'm looking for might be closer than I think."

"Uh, huh." Hakase said without knowing what the Prince meant.

Soon, their sundaes arrived and the two boys ate. The Prince looked like he was in heaven with every spoonful he ate, but Hakase let him be. Asking him whether or not he had this in his world would probably cause another headache.

…

"Oh shit! The time!" Hakase screeched as he stood up. "We have to get back!"

"Eh? Really?" The Prince asked with a pout. "But I'm having fun! I don't want to go back to that matchbox!"

"Matchbox!? Ryou's house is one of the biggest on the avenue and you call it a matchbox?!"

"Come back to me with that argument when you've lived in a castle for sixteen years."

"Tsch, fine." Hakase said in defeat. "But really, we have to go back. Think about it, Kise-san can take you anywhere you want, like a beach or a hotel or even another country. If you piss him off now, he may never do it."

"Why didn't you say so before?! Let's go!"

The Prince shot up and attempted to head to the exit. Hakase halted the boy in time, and called over a maid. He paid for their desserts and then the two left, ignoring the 'when will you be home, Master?' coming from the maids present.

Ryouta dashed down the street, with Hakase struggling to keep up. The Prince was fast, far too fast for his age; hell he was too fast for a human being. Hakase's feet tripped over everything, and he was unable to gain back his footing.

"Prince! Slow down!" he wailed.

Ryouta came to an abrupt halt. "What? Can't keep up?"

"No! That was way too fast."

"Really? I can go faster, you know?"

"Don't! We'll draw attention that we don't need."

"But you said we need to get home fast."

"We can take a bus to the station and wait there."

"Tsch, I don't have the time for that." Ryouta harrumphed. "Where's the closest dark and secluded area?"

"There's a narrow space between the buildings over there." Hakase said as he pointed in the direction. "What are you planning?"

"You wanted to see magic up close, right? Well, you're just about to get a first-hand experience."

With that, Ryouta bent down and gestured for Hakase to get on his back, before dashing off once again. It was somewhat uncomfortable since their hands were still handcuffed together. But the Prince didn't care. The future of his travels and his only means of getting free books was at stake.

Ryouta slowed down upon reaching the area Hakase pointed out. After couple seconds, Hakase showed him the 'narrow space' and the Prince let out a sigh. The space was between one small store called 'Pocari Sweat' and 'Card World Akiba'. But it seemed as though not everyone can enter as there was a door there.

"Like I care." The Prince snarled. The blond jumped over, and landed safely on the other side. Without hitch, a magic circle formed at his feet, and the Prince jumped upwards into the air only to land on another one. He kept doing this until he was high enough not to be seen, but still low enough for Hakase to tell where they were.

Under the direction of Hakase, the Prince hopped from magic circle to magic circle, enjoying the bird's eye view of the city as well. When they had left out of Akiba's airspace, the Prince sped up. The circles were laid out in the air and as such, Ryouta only hopped on them since Hakase had already indicated to him the direction he should head in.

So, within a couple minutes, they had arrived back home, the Prince busting the cuffs with brute force, frightening Hakase. Ryouta only replied that he was stronger than he looked.

Hakase only slumped in the sofa looking half dead. It was a scary experience, this entire day. First he lost the Prince for a brief moment (which nearly gave him a heart attack), and on their way back, he was carried over Ryouta's shoulder as he jumped on his magic circles in the air. Suppose he had fallen?

But he's learnt a valuable lesson. _Never_ take out the Prince without giving him geography lessons first.

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review!**_


	5. Earth and Sekai

_**A/N: Thank you for all your faves, reviews, and follows!**_

 **TokusatsuLuv:** This story is set before Inter-High starts.

 _ **Enjoy!**_

* * *

Chapter 5

 _Earth and Sekai_

…

"Mahiro…" Ryouta said as he waved a hand in front of Hakase's gazing eyes. The two boys were currently in Kise's adjacent room, sitting around the table being idle. "I have a question."

"Huh?" Hakase said, returning to reality. "About what?"

"School. What's it like? Or rather, what subject areas will I have to cover?"

Hakase sighed and stretched out his arms on the table. "Well, there's Math, English, Japanese ―this includes Literature, P.E, Social Studies and Music or Art."

The Prince was stunned. "That's it?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting a couple." He laughed.

Ryouta sighed in relief. "Well, so far, I think I can handle those subjects you listed out. Except the social studies and Japanese ones. What are they about?"

"Social Studies is a killer." Hakase said, looking like he was getting sick. "It's a combo of Geography, Japanese History, World History and Civics, if my memory serves me right. Japanese is our language."

Ryouta stared at Hakase like a lost child. He understood the History parts but the others were new to him. He let out a groan. He's always hated History, but in his world, at his age it wasn't compulsory except for Engineering History.

"What's Civics?" he then asked.

"Civics is citizenship education. You learn about society, politics, economics, and culture." Hakase deadpanned.

Ryouta was not amused. "Whatever. Civics sounds like bullshit so I'll ace everything else so the teachers won't complain."

"Our civics teacher _will_ complain! If you're constantly failing he'll definitely think that he's not teaching right!"

"Well, fuck him." The Prince snorted while folding his arms. "I'm not the only one in the class, am I?"

Hakase sighed. The Prince was stressing him out and it wasn't even Monday yet. "You're heartless! And it won't be the teacher who'll be fucked, it's _you!_ Look, I'll teach you so you won't be failing. If Ryou didn't fail, then you shouldn't."

"Okay." Ryouta shrugged without a care in the world.

But after hearing what the subjects entailed, the Prince realized that in this world, he could pull of being the other Ryouta successfully. The only problem was that he didn't know how to play this sport called Basketball. And he had get up to par because apparently, he's supposed to be the best in his school.

Ryouta sighed. There was another thing that he had to fret over. But he wasn't worried about himself that much. Seeing this world, he deduced that they wouldn't have classes like his world did, probably some mathematics and languages and stuff like that. What ―rather _who_ he was worried about was Earth's Ryouta.

There's so much he has to learn in such a short space of time. Add to that, Ryouta doubts that Kise can even use a Spear let alone two. Plus, there's his engineering class and magic class and…he didn't go on.

"My school life is ruined!" he screamed out, gripping his hair in distress.

"What makes you say that?"

"My subject areas are nothing like Earth's!" he groaned in agony. "My classes are Magic, Lightning, Spear, Engineering, Engineering History _plus_ Military Tactics which covers a range of sub-classes! My outstanding grades will plummet! The horror!" The distraught Prince was howling in grief.

Hakase paled. Even though his best friend was now living as a Prince, his life didn't seem so princely like what's been depicted in anime and manga. Ryouta was right; Kise will die in that world. There isn't even anything familiar.

"But I'm sure your family won't let that happen, right?" Hakase said, trying to calm down the worrying Prince and himself.

"Yeah," he chuckled. "They'll put him through the wringer."

"This is where I'm supposed to worry?"

Ryouta shook his head. "It's where you get on your knees and start praying earnestly that your best friend will actually survive."

For the third time, Hakase paled.

But seeing how the boy looked, Ryouta took swift action. "Don't worry! He won't die. I can assure you! I was just pulling your leg." The blond Prince even proceeded to pat the boy on his back. But Hakase hadn't budged. Ryouta figured that would be normal if he had heard that a friend was in danger and he can't do anything to save him.

"Seriously, Mahiro," Ryouta tried to soothe. "Your Ryouta will be fine!"

"Well, if you say so." The dark haired teen finally gave in.

"I know so!" Ryouta perked, giving the other boy a smile that rivalled Kise's million dollar smile. "Now, which manga would you recommend from those bookshelves?"

Hakase smirked. "Death Note."

 _xxxx_

 _While Ryouta was busy touring Akihabara…_

Kise was slung over Ryouma's shoulder and the three boys exited the office. When they came to the end of the hallway, instead of going up the stairs or down, they turned to the right onto another corridor. They walked pass multiple doors, each door having a sign or plaque to indicate what they led to. After completing that hallway, Kise saw that there were stairs which led into a small garden.

But, the garden was completely overshadowed by a three storey building. It was painted in mostly white and blue (as all the buildings here) and the plaque on the front read 'Kaijou Royal Library'. His heart raced a little when he saw 'Kaijou' as it was written the same as his school's back on Earth.

Then it hit him.

The people here speak Japanese. He hadn't realized until just now. Back at the hospital, there were no writing at all in his room, and he was too distracted by the technology to even notice.

"Ryou! What are you doing? Let's go." Ryouji nudged him out of his daze while Ryouma had already gone on ahead. They then walked up to the door which slid open as they neared. Kise let out a sigh of relief as at least there was some familiar technology about. They entered and the first thing Kise noticed was the bookshelves; he even ignored the receptionist at the desk.

The bookshelves were thick and painted in white with glass-like covering over where the books were. If he didn't know right, he'd think that these books were on display. At the sides of these bookshelves were touch screens with a keyboard on it. Inspecting it, he saw the long search bar and raised an eyebrow.

"In case you're wondering, all public bookshelves are like this." Ryouji came up behind him and said. "You type the name and/or author in the search and if it's on this shelf, it'll come out."

"Why?"

"We have inter-spatial devices, obviously, they want to prevent theft." Ryouji sighed. "If a book leaves the library without the receptionist's stamp, then an alarm will go off. These books have something special on them which even if it's in an inter-spatial device, it can be scanned." He continued, "As a matter of fact, it's like this in every store you go."

"Wow, they thought about this really thorough, huh."

"Ha! Please," Ryouma laughed. "Back in the day when these devices were just coming out, people stole like crazy. I mean, with a wave of the hand, the object disappears without a trace, not even a fingerprint. So obviously, people are going to do that."

"I see. I guess this place isn't perfect."

"Is anywhere?" Both Ryouma and Ryouji said.

Kise was left speechless. Hearing that, he wondered how high their crime rate was. How their well their economy is doing and things like that. When he was in his hospital room and learned that Magic exists, he thought that this place would be like what he's seen in many mangas and light novels and by extension, anime. But it wasn't. There were no medieval buildings and clothing, there was no Adventurer's Guilds or any guild for that matter, there were no _Adventurers,_ nothing. It seemed like a really futuristic society with magic. That's all.

"Sit." Kise was taken out of his thoughts. They were in another part of the ground floor, and Kise hadn't even realized when they got here.

"The first thing you'll learn is Geography. Alright?" Ryouji said, standing in front of a board, Ryouma was sitting in the chair beside him.

"Sure." Kise nodded.

Ryouji then took up a small silver thing, round in shape and placed it on the table top. He pushed a small button that was on it and suddenly, a holographic map came up.

"This is the world map of _Sekai._ "

Kise rose to his feet in shock. "That-that-that-that…" he was so shocked that he kept stuttering.

"Get out with it!" Ryouma barked.

"That's Earth's world map."

Ryouji paused. "Hoh? Then this'll be simpler then." But even though he said that, he too was shocked. If Kise said that Earth had the same map, then without a doubt, this Earth place might be a parallel to theirs. The Second Prince then sent a glance to Ryouma who was no less shocked than he was.

Ryouji then used two of his index to enlarge a certain area in 'East Asia' in the same motion one would use on their smartphones. When the image came up, Kise let out both a sigh of shock and relief.

Home sweet home ―Japan.

Still, there was a part of him which told him that they didn't call the landmass Japan. After all, Hikaru didn't know what it was in his interrogation.

"And this is the Teikou Continent." Ryouji said.

Kise was not amused. _Teikou? Seriously? And let me guess, all the countries here are the names of the schools that the miracles have gone to, right?_ Kise thought with an eye roll.

"How's it a continent? In my world it's an archipelago." Kise then said. "And it's called Japan."

"Well, it is. But it's so damn big that it's referred to as a continent nonetheless." Ryouji replied.

"Big? Japan is just 377,962 km², how's that a continent ―"

" _Your_ Japan is that small, our Teikou is four times that. Just because it's the same landmass, doesn't mean that the size will remain the same." Ryouma pitched in.

"Hai…"

"Anyway, since it's similar to your Japan, I'll tell you the name of each country, and for your sake, attribute it to a region in your country. For example, this country here is the _Yousen Kingdom_." He said as he pointed to the top of the map. "In Japan what is it?"

"Hokkaido."

"See? And we'll keep going like this. That way, you'll remember." Ryouji smiled. "The Yousen Kingdom has the nastiest cold season and a part of it is always frozen. But, they have the highest tourism rates during that season due to their snow."

"Ahh, it's somewhat similar to Hokkaido."

"Also, the current Monarch is Murasakibara Arata with his Queen Sachiko. They have five overgrown children ―Princes Akira, Akihito, Akito, Atsushi, and one Princess, Atsuko." Ryouma said. Kise chuckled at Ryouma's description of them being overgrown.

"Their Kingdom is a constitutional Monarchy which means that the government is headed by Monarch and regulated by constitution." He continued.

Ryouji then pointed to another area below that. "This is the _Touou Patriarchy_. If you're looking for a wife, stay away from these crazy bitches."

Kise let out a laugh, Ryouji's face was hilarious. "Touou would be the Tohoku Region minus the Fukushima prefecture but including half of Niigata."

"Touou's ruler is Aomine Daisuke and he only has one son, Daiki. The country is a Patriarchy which means that the Monarch in which power rests with the males through the male line. If you're a female, then you're out of luck. In addition to that, the country is nothing but desert, however, they are the largest exporters of refined oil used for transportation."

"Refined oil?"

"This oil has mana mixed into it as well. That way, it won't be harmful to the atmosphere like back in the day. Don't ask me how they do it, I don't know."

But Kise found something strange. If Touou was equivalent to the Tohoku region of his Japan, then there shouldn't be any deserts. Tohoku isn't at the equator, as a matter of fact, that region has one of the nastiest winters around."

"Why is it a desert? Tohoku isn't a desert in my world."

"Ask the fucking Earth Seirei not me." Ryouma shrugged. Kise flinched at the obscene language. Shouldn't Princes be less foul mouthed? "Plus, it isn't like the Sabaku no Sahara where the temperature is boiling hot. It's normal heat in Touou."

"Sabaku no Sahara? What?"

Ryouma sighed. He then wrote the name on the board and immediately Kise perked up. "Oh! You mean the Sahara Desert!"

"Whatever."

"Anyways, this here is Shutoku Aristocracy. In Japan it is…?" Ryouji continued.

"It's actually two." Kise said. Ryouji raised an eyebrow. "Shutoku is the entire Kanto Region plus Fukushima prefecture from the Tohoku Region but minus the Kanagawa prefecture."

"I don't even know some of these places, but it seems you know your stuff. You really would make a good Prince." Ryouma commented. "Shutoku is ruled by Midorima Rintarou and he has two children ―Shintarou and Sayaka. Shintarou is around your age while Sayaka is like, six, I think?"

"Next up, is us the Kaijou Kingdom. What is it in Japan?" Ryouji said without hitch.

"Chubu, including half of Niigata and the Kanagawa prefecture."

"Next up is Rakuzan Empire. It is the entirety of these lands, and again, if you're looking for a wife, the bitches here are not to be even looked at."

Kise stifled his laughter. "In Japan, Rakuzan would make up the Kansai, Chugoku and Kyushu regions." He then said, "Rakuzan sure is big."

"It's an Empire. Of course it's going to be big. Plus, the previous Emperor was a fucking psycho who thought that all should kneel before him." Ryouji said in anger. "And it seems his grandson is going to follow in his footsteps."

"The grandson being Akashi Seijuurou, right?" Kise asked.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"He's similar to the one in my world." Kise said after a pause.

"Anyway, here we have the Fukuda Sogo Kingdom." Ryouji said.

Kise said, "It's Shikoku in Japan."

Kise let out a sigh, he was right initially. From the moment he heard the continent they live in was called Teikou and that Hokkaido was Yousen in this world, he knew that the other coloured areas were the schools that the Miracles had went to. But what he didn't know was who ruled Fukuda Sogo, he didn't wonder about Seirin that much. If Kuroko's father was the Chief of Police here so that would probably mean Kuroko is here in this Kingdom.

But his geography lesson continued, and apart from Touou, there isn't any much difference to the climates. But due to the fact that the countries are ruled by different people and different ideologies there are things such as culture that may be slightly different.

But the lesson then spilled over into things like different seasons, a conversation which Kise and Ryouji had earlier today while at the café. There were four seasons around Sekai, _Haru, Natsu, Aki, Fuyu,_ which are equivalent to Earth's Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

In addition to that, he's learnt about the 'animals' that reside in this world. To everyone here, they may just be 'wild animals' but to Kise they were nothing less than monsters. There were the creatures that lived in the sea and other water bodies such as the _Mizugumo,_ which Kise learnt was equivalent to a water spider but with some 'differences' so to speak.

One, the _Mizugumo_ was freaking huge. Seeing it, Kise was sure that he couldn't use his mother's stiletto heels to kill _that._ But what was even more frightening, the thing could use water magic. Hell, _all_ the 'wild animals' could use some form of magic. Which meant, if Kise ever comes across one, he'd be fucked.

Also, Kise found out that apart from these 'wild animals', there were beings that were dwelling on Sekai before humans ―or rather _Ningen_ did. These beings are called _Seirei,_ and when Ryouma had written the kanji, Kise saw that it was the same as his ' _Spirits'._ There were many different _Seirei_ found, each category was the same as the Elements ―there were Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, Lightning & Thunder.

Seirei looked like people and Ryouma and Ryouji had admitted that no one could tell a Seirei different from a Ningen (human). But, in terms of abilities, Seirei were far better at magic than Ningen were.

While on this topic, Kise felt a bit enthused. Reading all those manga and light novels, and watching all those anime, he'd always wondered what it's like to wield magic. Since he was currently in a world where it's possible, he wondered if he could cast magic.

Kise grinned on the inside. He couldn't wait to see.

…

King Ryouhei sat around his desk, rubbing his temples. He had just gone through Hikaru's report of the investigations, and there were still many unanswered questions. A freaking monster appeared in his youngest son's room and there were no other reports of Bakemono sightings in the capital that day.

The King was stuck. "What the hell happened?" he groaned in frustration.

"Your Majesty!" A voice from behind the door took him out of his thoughts. "It is I, Hikaru!"

"Enter!"

The Chief of Police made a respectful bow to the King before entering the man's office. He held a sealed envelope and by the looks of it, there were quite a few documents in there. King Ryouhei let out a frustrated groan. He wasn't in the mood for any more readings and worse his wife was currently busy with other things.

"This is a detailed report on the creature that attacked Prince Ryouta." Hikaru said. King Ryouhei's eyes widened as he received the set of documents. "It's directly from the Lab, and I must say, the findings are quite pleasing."

"How so?" the King asked. However, Hikaru didn't answer as he saw that the King had started to read. With each line that the man read, his eyes widened from the revelation until he finally placed the documents on the table. He addressed Hikaru with a dismayed look on his face.

"So you're saying that the creature that attacked my son wasn't a Bakemono?"

"Hai." Hikaru's voice was firm. "Analyzing the DNA found in the room and on Kasamatsu Yukio's halberd, our scientists came to that conclusion. Even though it wasn't a Bakemono, it seemed to be derived from one." He paused a little to let the King absorb that bit of information.

"What do you mean?"

"The creature that attacked Prince Ryouta was created somewhere, using a Bakemono as its base, so to speak. Think of it as a pet that had its body altered by its master using the parts of another creature." Hikaru answered. "And as such, the creature was given directions on where to attack, which is why there were no other reports of a Bakemono anywhere else in the city."

"Then that would mean someone in the castle is colluding with whosoever did this." King Ryouhei said who had stood up due to his devastation and disbelief. Hikaru could sense the King's bloodlust and internally sighed. The entire world should know by now not to mess King Ryouhei and his family. The man was a freaking psychopath who would mow down a god if it means protecting his dearest ones.

"That is entirely correct, Your Majesty." Hikaru said in the calmest tone he could muster. "For the fact is, no one should be able to find your children's rooms that easily. Even my team and I had to be led there for the investigations."

"Exactly." King Ryouhei agreed. But he was irate. Lightning crackled all over the man's body and quickly, Hikaru moved to the other side of the office where the mountain of documents was. One thing he's learned about the King over the years, no matter how pissed he is, he'll blow everything up except important documents.

"This is the second time that someone tried to snatch my little punk," he snarled. "Hikaru, double the amount of personnel working on the investigations, I want those fuckers caught as soon as possible." But then he added, "Never mind that, as soon as they're caught…" the King trailed off. "Wipe. Them. The. Fuck. Out."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Hikaru said. "And I won't let anyone else find out that the real Prince is elsewhere."

"Good." The King smiled. "A question, do you have any reason to believe that it may be Touou again?"

"No, Your Majesty." Hikaru said calmly. "To be precise, we aren't sure. There isn't any evidence which points to a specific country, but we have a feeling that the co-conspirator may be in one or a few of your son's attendants."

King Ryouhei smirked. "Tell me more, and drop the formal act."

Hikaru sighed a relief. "Frankly, apart from your family including Ryouta, the attendants are the only ones who know where his room is. Not even the Palace guards know, am I right?"

The King nodded.

"And since this creature was created somewhere in some lab, it means, someone had to give the creature the coordinates of where to attack."

"That's right." King Ryouhei said in realization. "Add to that, Ryouji told me that when it was severely wounded, it ran away by opening up a magic circle. Bakemono don't do that shit. They take their slaughtering and die."

Hikaru chuckled on the inside upon hearing that last sentence. "That's true."

"But there's another thing bothering me. How is it that Ryouta ended up in this Japan place? If he was chasing the creature, then shouldn't he ―"

"Sorry to interrupt Your Majesty, but your son simply messed up the symbols he saw on the creature's magic circle." Hikaru said in a matter-of-factly. "When Ryouji told me what Ryouta said to him from the other world, I realized that there's no way 'Japan' could be where the creature comes from."

"Hmm?"

"One, there is no magic. Two, technology is ancient. Thus, they shouldn't have a way to cross over to other worlds without one of the two listed." Hikaru said with a shrug. "But I need to know more about this Japan place and if it really doesn't have any Bakemono."

"Why?"

"Because I want to figure out the reason why our world has been attacked since days of antiquity and Japan isn't. Kakihara-kun says his world was suddenly attacked out of the blue one day." Hikaru reasoned. "Is it that there's something here that's attracting them? Or is it that our world is just easy to cross over from where they are? I need to know."

"I understand." The King nodded. He then asked. "This Kakihara-kun was the case from five years ago, right?" Hikaru nodded his response. The King continued, "But the other Ryouta should be free right now, how about you ask him if his world has ever had grotesque creatures attack them." The King said with a shrug. "Still, it would be good if we could find out why those fuckers are after us."

"You know, I've always wondered…" Hikaru said with a heavy sigh. "…how come a royalty of your calibre is so foul mouthed?" he sighed heavily. "Do I need to point out that your sons have taken up this nasty trait as well? Have you ever heard when Ryouma's arguing? Or Ryouji's threats? Don't even get me started on Ryouta."

King Ryouhei shrugged. "Blame my upbringing."

"Don't try to pin the cause on someone else!"

The King only smiled and batted his lashes playfully. "But it's the truth."

…

"Okay, we'll stop here for today." Ryouji grinned.

Kise felt exhausted. It was like he sat there for two hours or more, trying to suck up information like a sponge. Thank God geography was easy since Teikou was Japan, only larger and split into five countries.

"Why do you look like that?" Ryouma asked. "All we did was go over some basic stuff. We haven't even touched Ryouta's school work."

"It was too much to absorb. I felt like you just dumped the information on me." Kise whined.

"Quit whining." Ryouji laughed as he pinched his cheek. "The day is still young so there's something else we need to find out."

"What's that?" Kise asked.

"You'll see."

Once outside, Kise saw the Princes grin maliciously at each other before turning to look at him. Kise had a sinking feeling that he was in danger, but there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"Let's race." He then heard Ryouma say.

"Sounds fun." Ryouji grinned. "But what do we do with him? I doubt he can use magic."

"We throw him there."

"No way, Dad and Mom will be pissed if they found out."

"Tsch, what they don't know won't hurt us."

"I'll carry him, which means I should get a head-start." Ryouji smirked as he threw Kise over his shoulder like a sack, ignoring said blond's indignant shouts.

"No way." Ryouma said. "He's light isn't he?"

And just like that, the two Princes dashed off at a blistering speed, running down a paved path lined with strange yet beautiful orange flowers. Just then, Ryouji and Ryouma made a sharp right turn, Kise felt as though he nearly got whiplash. The boys continued on the path until Kise got the shock of his life.

They encountered a tall building at which the path forked into two ―left and right, but the Princes seemed as though they were going to enter the building. However, upon reaching where the path diverged, the Princes created magic circles in the air and jumped onto it. They continued like this, using their magic circles like stepping stones to get over the building.

Screams ripped from Kise's throat, and the poor boy gripped onto Ryouji's clothes for dear life. When they made it onto the roof, Kise felt Ryouji stop, held him by the belt and threw him downwards to Ryouma like a baseball pitcher.

Kise screamed his throat out, thinking that he was going to die. Hearing the boy's frightened screams getting louder and louder, Ryouma looked up and saw the blond boy flying towards him.

"You asshole!" Ryouma hissed as he caught Kise in the bridal style. He shot a glare at Ryouji who was skating down the walls of the building on water.

"I carried him, so it's your turn Ryouma-nii!" he said in a teasing voice as he landed. Ryouji escaped quickly and instead of running, he continued to skate on the water he had accumulated at the bottom of his feet.

"That fucking cheat!" Ryouma shouted. He then looked at Kise, who was whimpering in fear. "Let's go Damsel." He grinned.

"I'm not a ―" Kise started but with Ryouma's sudden movement, he ended up screaming.

With Lightning crackling around his body, Ryouma dashed off and caught up Ryouji within seconds. Still, as he neared the Second Prince, balls of water were thrown at them which upon impact left a nasty dent in the paved path.

"That bastard…" Ryouma snarled. But then, he got an idea. He looked down on Kise who had buried his face in his chest to not die of a heart attack. "What goes around…" Ryouma said as he held Kise under the arms like a newborn.

"What are you doing?!" Kise asked, gripping onto the older boy's arms.

"Returning the favour." The First Prince smirked. "As a Kise, we never fail in that aspect."

Before Kise could argue (more like beg for his life), Ryouma threw him at Ryouji, who was skating merrily away. Like Ryouma, he heard Kise's screaming getting louder and louder and as such he turned around to look. There, he saw Kise flying towards him with Ryouma not far behind with a grin on his face.

"Ryouma-nii! How could you?!" Ryouji shrieked. He then created a wall of water in order to break the flying teen's momentum. It worked; however, Kise slammed into it and fell to the ground with a loud thud.

Ryouji and Ryouma looked on in horror. The two boys rushed to his aid and looked down on Kise's unconscious figure.

"You don't think he's dead?" Ryouji asked.

"Who's dead?" a high-pitched voice asked from behind them.

Immediately, they stiffened with fear. That voice belonged to no one but their mother and the Queen of Kaijou ―Kise Ritsuko. Neither boy could move, because if they did so, she'll see the dishevelled and unconscious state Kise was in.

"No one, Mom." Ryouma answered. "Just a bug we attempted to kill."

Ritsuko narrowed her eyes at her sons. She noticed that there were two of them instead of three. "Where's Ryouta?" she asked in a cold tone. She walked to them and with every step she took; she saw them quiver in fear. Her eyes then caught the figure lying on the ground before them and instantly, her anger was ignited.

"What have you fools done this time?!"

"It was an accident!" the two shouted as they dashed off. However, a bright blue light caught their eyes from above. Stopping, they looked up to see a gigantic blue magic circle and one word could escape their lips:

"Shit."

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 _ **Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review!**_


	6. Japanese Martial Arts

_**A/N: Thank you for your faves, reviews and follows!**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

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Chapter 6

 _Japanese Martial Arts_

…

King Ryouhei groaned.

He knew his wife has a tendency to exaggerate her magic, but this…this was unexpected. He stood in the courtyard where his wife's wrath had been unleashed and gaped in shock. The entire place was destroyed; the trees were all bent horribly from whatever force she had used, most of the flowers were missing because they had been washed away by her gruesome water magic.

"I'm taking this out of her pay-check." He grumbled to himself. He then looked at the Queen, who was reprimanding the two Princes while she healed Kise's injury with her water magic.

Ryouji and Ryouma looked like wounded puppies, while Kise seemed indifferent. But the King wondered to himself, just what did the boys do to incur their mother's wrath? He knew Kise couldn't be at fault since he came here just yesterday and almost half of the time he was unconscious in a hospital bed. He was only released earlier today.

So, the culprits had to be Ryouma and Ryouji. He trotted over to the group, and by now Queen Ritsuko had finished with Kise.

On the other hand, Kise was not about this life.

After being knocked unconscious by slamming into Ryouji's water wall, he was healed by the Queen's water magic and was now as good as new. Luckily he had no broken bones as that would probably spell the end of Ryouji and Ryouma.

The blond ace made a mental note to stay away from the two Princes. So far, there were three ways in which he could die in this world ―poisoned by Mana, starvation due to the different tasting food, and finally, the aggressiveness of the two Princes who were essentially his new older brothers.

He wanted to go back home, back to his peaceful life in Japan where he played basketball, got kicked by Kasamatsu-senpai and model for magazines. He wanted to go back to reading his manga and light novels, and watch anime with Hakase. Upon remembering that, Kise realized something.

"I was supposed to go to Akiba with Mahirocchi!" he groaned out aloud, causing everyone to look at him. "Now I can't!"

"What's Akiba?" Queen Ritsuko asked.

"It's Akihabara! The city of manga, anime, cosplay and beautiful maids and awesome video games!" he answered with a perk. His new family looked at him with confusion.

"Well, if you want to go to Akihabara you could always go with a couple bodyguards." King Ryouhei said with nonchalance. "But what's anime, manga and video games?" he asked.

"And cosplay?" Queen Ritsuko added.

Kise let out a scream of horror and gripped his hair in distress. Hearing that one sentence told him that he was currently in a world devoid of those beautiful pastimes!

"I can't…" Kise said, seeming to be wheezing. "I can't…!" he then walked up to the King and grabbed him by his collar. "Send me back home, _now!_ I can't live in this place without manga and anime! What am I supposed to read and watch!? How am I supposed to live!?" Tears started to stream out of the blond's eyes in torrents.

The King's face darkened before he let out a sigh. "If it were that simple we would have shipped you off by now." He answered. "But knowing my son, it would pose a problem."

"How so?"

"Well, if it were just a one-way thing, I would have just copied Ryouta's magic circle and drop you through it. But if you leave, we need Ryouta back here. And that's where the problem lies. For a teleportation to work for an 'arrival' and 'departure', we'd need two magic circles ―one in this world and another in Earth since we'd need both of you to cross over. And for that to happen, my son has to draw up the other one."

"And judging by when we spoke, I doubt he's going to do it." Ryouji said. "You're stuck here for the time being, bro."

"No way!" Kise gasped. "Can't you force him to do it?"

"My baby can be quite selfish, and it's worse now since he isn't a Prince." Queen Ritsuko sighed.

"But can't you just send me back to my world? That way, he has to return to his because two 'Kise Ryouta' can't exist."

The Royal family erupted in laughter.

"You're so naïve that it's cute." King Ryouhei started after he came out of his laughing fit. "There are many scenarios that can happen if I should do that, but they all have the same outcome ―Earth's Kise Ryouta won't be happy at the end of it all."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's say, I open up a magic circle to Earth at this very moment and you go through." The King started. "My son will either kill you and burn your body into nothing with his Lightning and assume your identity; or open up another magic circle and forcibly throw you back here. He could even threaten to murder your family and friends and destroy your country if you don't leave Earth, or ―"

"I get it, I get it." Kise said, cutting the King off. "Your son is an asshole."

"Don't be so surprised. I told you that he's a shitty son of a bitch sometimes." Ryouji said, folding his arms. "So, for the time being, you're stuck here."

"But, how am I going to survive? Isn't it dangerous just by being a Prince?"

The King sighed again. "Don't worry about that; the entire Military and Police Force are ready to mobilize should anything happen to you. But, I'll make sure that you'll be able to defend yourself, even against the Bakemono. I'll be your personal teacher."

Before Kise could inquire what a Bakemono was, he caught the look on Ryouma and Ryouji's faces and felt like he was going to be in for hell once again. However, Kise quickly calmed himself down, he knows Japanese Martial Arts, there shouldn't be anything to be afraid of…well, apart from the fact that everyone can use magic.

"Well then, enough chit-chat." The King smiled as he clapped his hands together. "Let's go test your fighting capabilities, shall we?" King Ryouhei held onto Kise's shoulder and within a blink, lightning surrounded them. Not knowing what was happening, Kise clung onto the King for dear life, not wanting to face the trauma like before; he silently prayed that the King was not like those two hooligans.

Soon, the yellow light engulfed them completely, and Kise suddenly felt weightless. It was almost as though he was floating but he was still clinging onto the King. But after a while, he felt the force of gravity yet again, and the light disappeared.

"You don't need to hold onto me so tightly." King Ryouhei chuckled. "You wouldn't have fallen."

"I have to take precautions." Kise replied in a shaky voice. "I was almost killed today."

"Yeah, well, my boys are quite the rough-housers when they're playing. Sorry about that."

"I see." Kise nodded. Putting the conversation aside, Kise looked around and saw that they were in a large plain room with the ceiling almost as high as the sky. Looking behind him, Kise saw that there was one blue door and a flat metal surface beside it on the wall. Kise felt knots in his stomach.

"Is this a training room or something?" he asked.

The King perked. "Right you are! Do you have training rooms in your world?"

"Uh no," Kise replied. "Training rooms like this are seen a lot in fiction."

"I see." The King nodded. But after, his face took on a more serious expression. "How well can you fight? Can you defend yourself in times of danger against another person?"

"Yes, I can defend myself. I'm in the top class of Martial Arts." Kise said. He couldn't say that he was a black belt because then he'd have to explain what a black belt was.

"Martial Arts?" The King asked. But he quickly shrugged it off and addressed the other part of what Kise said. "Good, so for today, we'll be assessing your abilities. Your opponents will be Ryouma and Ryouji." Kise gaped. "Think of it as taking revenge for earlier today."

"But they can use magic, how will I ―?"

The King shook his head. "They won't be using magic. It'll be unfair to you if they did."

"Okay!" Kise chirped. He really needed to exact his revenge. How can Ryouma and Ryouji call themselves older brothers if they nearly killed him off earlier on? Kise was sure to show them the power of a Human, and engrave it in their heads that they shouldn't take his life so lightly.

Oh yes, Kise thought. This was going to be fun.

…

A sleek black car drove into the parking lot and a tall young man emerged from the driver's side. His beautiful blond hair was slicked back, showing the world his angular face and narrow shaped red eyes. The blond man was dressed semi-casually, a red blazer over a blue button-down shirt which was tucked into dark jeans and white sneakers.

He strutted into the park, eyes scanning the area for the one who he was looking for. Continuing on the beautifully paved path, he spotted the tall male sitting on a bench to the far left of a fountain. He was dressed formally, a costume vest over a coloured dress shirt which he tucked into his dark pants. He played with his slightly curled dark hair, seeming to be fidgeting.

"No one followed you, I presume?" the dark haired man asked glancing at his watch.

The blond snorted as he sat down. "As if." His red eyes darkened. "As you can see, the plan failed due to an unforeseen appearance of Yukio and Yoshitaka. Add to that, Ryouji was quick to act."

"Hmm." The man hummed. "That's pretty unfortunate. If they weren't there, then the Third Prince would have been in our hands." He then folded his arms. "If this persists, then we'd have to use force."

"You can't Katsunori. Have you forgotten how monstrous the King is? Using force will only make things worse. And we won't get Ryouta." The blond said with a cold tone. However, that cold expression turned into a bright summer's day. "I have a plan that's sure to work."

"Really? You aren't planning on using another modified creature to capture him, right?" Katsunori asked.

"Of course not." He replied with an air of pride. "I'm thinking of doing things a little bit more subtle."

Katsunori's eyebrows rose. "How so?"

The blond smirked as he pulled out an envelope from his spatial ring.

…

Kise was at a distance from Ryouji and Ryouma who wielded a pair of golden whip and a beautiful recurved bow respectively. Numerous times Kise had tried to close in on them, but with Ryouma's ranged attacks and Ryouji's mid-range slashes, he couldn't.

However, he picked up on a pattern, so to speak. Ryouma attacks first with his blunt arrows, and then Ryouji would use his whips to further hinder Kise's movements. As long as he could get around Ryouma's attacks, then he'd be able to take down Ryouji first.

With his mind made up, Kise went on the offense.

He made steady yet calculating movements forward, which prompted Ryouma to fire off his arrows. Watching these arrows carefully, Kise dodged with great agility, shocking the two Princes.

With this oncoming threat, Ryouji prepared for the counter, and what he did next, totally took Kise by surprise. His whips disappeared into his spatial ring but out came a spear; its blue lustre sparkled beautifully. The shaft was short, looking at it; Kise estimated its length to be from the floor up to Ryouji's waist. Closer to the triangular head, there were four thick protrusions, two on each side.

Ryouji then dashed forwards to Kise all the while Ryouma was providing cover, limiting Kise's movements. While this situation was not what he expected, Kise was somewhat relieved. He had managed to draw Ryouji from Ryouma's side.

Ryouji swiped the weapon in a graceful arc, but Kise arched backwards to avoid it. However, in that instant, Kise saw the head and the protrusions sink into the shaft, effectively turning the weapon into a staff. Ryouji swiftly pushed the weapon towards him, jabbing Kise in the stomach.

It hurt, but thankfully, Ryouji had used restraint.

But Kise was a quick thinker. He grabbed onto the shaft with both hands and swung himself up, making a roundhouse kick which landed squarely in the Second Prince's left cheek.

His grip loosened on his spear-turned-staff, and he staggered a bit. Seeing this as an opportunity, Kise dashed off towards Ryouma, hoping to close the distance between them and Ryouma. But, he stopped suddenly.

If Ryouji can use both the whip and spear weapons, wouldn't Ryouma be able to use dual weapons as well? The eldest son was an Archer, so Kise thought that naturally, his secondary weapon would probably be a close ranged one.

Ryouma lowered his bow and watched Kise with analytical eyes. Seeing how the blond from Earth suddenly stopped, he figured that Kise may have realized that he could use more than one weapon.

By this time, Ryouji had regained his senses. While Kise's kick was not as powerful as the Third Prince's, it still had some force in it.

"Not bad Ryouta." He said as he poised the spear at Kise. "But you know, my Otouto would have broken my jaw with a kick like that." He let out a chuckle. "Thank God you're a different specie."

"Shut up and kick his ass!" Ryouma shouted. He had placed his bow and arrows back into his spatial ring. "There's no need for me to back you up, right?"

"Right you are, Ryouma-nii."

And with that, Ryouji lunged at Kise once more, and the ace felt that this was unfair. They had weapons, he had his bare hands. Did the Royal Family hate him or something?

But quickly, Kise discarded those thoughts and focused on the issue at hand. Ryouji made a thrust at Kise with the spear-turned-staff, but the thrust was a distraction. As soon as Kise dodged it, Ryouji did a leg sweep knocking Kise to the ground. He then punched at Kise, and luckily he rolled away in time. Ryouji's fist collided with the floor leaving Kise frightened.

Tiles were sent flying while some jutted upwards, creating a mini-crater.

Kise shivered. If that had caught him, he would have been done for. Ryouji dashed off once again, Kise springing into action. Ryouji made a kick at Kise's ribs, but he quickly dodged it by jumping backwards in two galloping steps. But Ryouji was quick and fierce, sending punches towards Kise, the blond from Earth having to be on the defence.

Arching into a crab-back, Kise brought up his foot, trying to attack Ryouji at the chin. The older blond moved quickly, but knowing that this would have happened, Kise had an alternate. Getting up into a handstand, Kise spun on his hands kicking out his feet as well.

Once again, Ryouji got kicked into his face, but this time it was twice. Unwilling to let his new brother be able to counter, Kise sprung into action. He reached onto his feet, and dashed forwards. Extending his right arm almost seeming like a jab, Kise slammed the back of his clenched fist into Ryouji's nose completely disorienting the young man. This was the _Uraken-Uchi_ or the Back Fist Strike.

With Ryouji staggering further away and grabbing onto his bleeding nose, Kise saw this as an opportunity to take him down. Going into a side-stance, Kise then came up onto his front ball of his left foot, lifting his heel towards his target. He then made a half rotation with his swinging leg, lifting his knee at an angle. Twisting his hip and having his shin parallel to the ground, Kise then jumped, doing the tornado roundhouse kick which landed squarely in Ryouji's head, sending the Second Prince crashing to the floor face-first.

"Jesus Christ!" Ryouma shouted as he rushed to his younger brother's aid. The force and impact of the kick reverberated throughout the room and even the King and Queen had to rush down to see what became of Ryouji.

But, that attack was a double-edged sword. Kise's foot was burning and pounding and he wondered what the hell Ryouji was made out of. Back on Earth, he's used that kick many times before and it never had this effect. Recalling the force Ryouma and Ryouji used to throw him earlier today and the punch which left a crater in the floor, Kise surmised that the ' _Ningen_ ' were probably stronger than Humans physically.

Unable to bear the pain, Kise sat down and almost tore his shoes off.

What he saw next, left him bewildered.

His foot was swollen and red. King Ryouhei saw his condition but before he could say anything, Ryouji got up with a groan.

"You fucker," he said, looking in the direction of Kise. The side of his head was bleeding. "That was a damn good kick, teach it to me."

Kise let out a breath of relief. He swore that Ryouji would have attempted to drown him.

"Fuck, what did you do to me?" Ryouji groaned out as he held his head. He felt woozy, dizzy and like his head was on fire. There was also a ringing in his ear, but he deduced that it was from the kick. But never before had Ryouji experienced something like this. To regain in his senses properly, he used his water magic to heal himself. In both his hands were water which glowed a bright light. With one hand, he massaged his head, while with the other he repaired his nose. Feeling the sensation, he screamed out,

"You little shit! You broke my nose!"

"It's wasn't my fault! Your father told me to get revenge and that's what I did!" Kise countered, hoping to divert the blame elsewhere.

"Papa! How could you? Revenge!? I protected him from Ryouma!"

Ryouma let out a gasp. "Accept it! None of this would have happened if you had just carried him in the first place!"

"What?!" Ryouji roared. "This wouldn't have happened if you didn't throw him at me!"

The King cleared his throat to stop his boys' bickering. "Just shut up. If you don't want to have any broken bones, next time you fucking walk." He said coolly, even though he was still pissed. "Your brother is not a ragdoll or a punching bag."

"But Dad!", "But Papa!" Ryouma and Ryouji whined at the same time.

The Queen ignored all three and went to fix Kise's foot.

But due to the shouting, Ryouji was making himself worse. Seeing his brother in this state, Ryouma helped Ryouji onto his back. Meanwhile, King Ryouhei could only look on with astonishment. It was a shocker, since he knew that Kise's world didn't have magic.

The King shivered as his gaze fell on Kise. If this was the power of Martial Arts, then he wouldn't want to imagine what other crazy methods of fighting that came from Earth. Barehanded, and yet, he was able to take down Ryouji who had weapon.

How frightening.

But then his mind wandered to what Ryouji demanded earlier from Kise. As if having magic and two weapons isn't enough, Ryouji actually wanted to learn that move. Looking back, with Ryouji's element, that move may come in handy when he least expects it.

"Dad!" Ryouma's voice took him out of his thoughts. "I'm bringing Ryou to his room."

"Alright, go on ahead." King Ryouhei said.

"Ryouta…" Ryouji slurred, sounding drunk. "…remember you have to teach me. If you try to hide I'll kill you." He spat.

Kise paled. "As if I can hide in this world."

"There, all done." Queen Ritsuko perked. She removed her hand from Kise's foot and he felt as good as new. More like, he felt like he could kick a mountain and split it.

"Thanks, Mom!" he chirped as he bounced up onto his feet.

"Good," she smiled as she ruffled his hair. She turned to her husband and said, "I'll be heading off to the Lab, take care."

"Hmm, yeah," King Ryouhei nodded.

The Queen left the room, and as such, only Kise and the King remained. Silence befell the two and for a moment, it had gotten awkward. Kise knew that the King had wanted to ask him something, but Kise couldn't tell whether it was about Martial Arts or another thing entirely.

"Alright, let's go." King Ryouhei said suddenly.

"Eh?" But before Kise could inquire, the King bent down and took him up like a newborn. This feeling was extremely uncomfortable. Ryouma did it to him earlier, and now the King. Was the real Prince treated like this? Kise snorted inwardly. He supposed not. After hearing their description of that asshole, there's no way he'd be babied this much.

Coming back to his senses, Kise noticed that once again yellow Lightning was crackling around the King's body. Latching onto the man like a leech, Kise braced himself.

King Ryouhei chuckled at this, and wondered what kind of background this Kise Ryouta had. Even though the King hadn't met him for long, he could tell that Earth's Ryouta was different. He wasn't a loose cannon like his son, as a matter of fact, he seemed to be the total opposite.

The yellow Lightning engulfed the two and Kise felt the same feeling from before. But he wondered about how these people used teleportation. In the hospital when he and Ryouji moved from one floor to the next, he didn't feel this way, as a matter of fact, they didn't use any element.

But now, they were travelling via Lightning. It was cool in Kise's eyes, and to be experiencing something that would be seen in anime was almost like a dream. But there was one thing that he wanted to do after the King was done with him.

Play basketball.

He had already missed the feeling of the leather ball underneath his fingertips. He missed the sounds of sneakers squeaking against the floor, he missed the sound of the dribble the ball produced. Ah yes, as soon as this was over, he's going to play some basketball with whomever he could find.

The light disappeared and Kise found that they were in a room. Looking at the layout of the room, Kise deduced that this was a study. In the middle of the room there was a table with six chairs around it, and on either side of the table, there were four bookshelves, all laden with books.

"Have a seat," the King said.

"Thanks." Kise replied as he took a seat across from the King.

"I had noticed that your face looked troubled, so is there something that you'd like to ask me?"

"You noticed? That's just like my Papacchi." Kise chuckled. "He's always been able to pick up the slightest changes."

King Ryouhei actually smiled in relief. This was the first time that he's heard about Earth's Kise Ryouhei. At least they had something in common.

"I'd like to know what a Bakemono is." Kise then said. "And why would the Armies and Police force mobilize just for me."

The King nodded. "Bakemono are grotesque creatures that attack this world. Their shapes and sizes vary, but they're instinctual creatures incapable of intelligence. Every single country on this planet has that issue since days of antiquity. Where do they come from? We don't know. What we can surmise is that they come from another world."

"I see. So, I'd come across those creatures eventually, right?"

"You're quick." King Ryouhei smirked. He saw Kise shivered. Seeing that simple reaction, the King realized that Kise's world doesn't have such things. "You just shivered, so I assume that your world has no Bakemono?"

"No, we don't. As a matter of fact, we don't have anything attacking us." Kise replied. "The only 'thing' that we should be wary of are other countries. Humans have a long history of fighting each other over…anything really."

"So your biggest threat is your fellow Humans?"

"Yeah." Kise's gaze wandered. He felt a bit stifled since the man before him was a King. Although he was basically his son (just from another world), it still felt a bit strange talking to the King with informal speech. "But if these Bakemono are monsters, how will I defend myself against them? Magic? Weapons?"

"I'll teach you how to use the Spear, so you won't have to worry. In terms of magic, I don't know if you can use magic." He said. "I mean, your world has no Mana, so I don't think your body is constituted for it."

Kise felt heartbroken. He was in a world full of magic and he couldn't use it. He was greatly betrayed by manga, light novels and anime! He let out a pained whimper.

"Aren't I the main character?! Shouldn't I have been given the ability to use all types of magic!?" he wailed. "This is unfair! I feel so betrayed!"

The King, seeing this reaction, didn't know what to do. He wondered about what the boy was going on about being a main character and getting betrayed.

 _Humans are strange._ He ended up thinking.

"But don't worry, you'll still be able to use magic but not of your own accord."

"Not of my own accord? What do you mean?"

"We're currently creating a device which allows you to cast Lightning & Thunder magic like my son. The spells that he uses will be engraved in it, but you'll have to learn their names since this device will be voice activated."

Kise nodded his understanding. "So, to use these spells, the Mana in my body will be used, right?"

The King beamed. "You really are quick!"

Even Kise himself was stunned at this. He wasn't a dunce, but he's realized that he's been processing things a little bit faster and wondered if he was just a bit more focused since this was a scary new environment.

"I guess," was all Kise could utter out. His expression changed when he asked, "So, tell me about the Armies and Police force."

"It's simple, in the Royal Family, each child is given a position of absolute authority. It's been this way since…" the King trailed off, unable to think of an estimate. "…just say it's been this way since the sixth King."

"Okay, and what are these positions?"

"I was getting to that, how impatient are you?" The King laughed. "Let's use our current family as an example. My three sons, including you, will inherit these position ―King, Prime Minister and Commander of the Defence Force which includes the National Police."

Kise's jaw dropped. No wonder the Third Prince doesn't want to come back! This kind of responsibility is frightening. If he ends up getting stuck here, he'd be in charge of the country's Armies and Police? What the hell?!

"Isn't that a bit too much? If your son doesn't come back, then I'll be in charge of the Armies. I don't think I can do that."

"You know, there are assistants and advisors and other aids you know." The King said in a matter-of-factly. "The gist is, you'll be able to utilize the Armies in any way you want. Not even Ryouma could tell you what to do because he won't have any authority. But, the Generals report directly to you, so it isn't like you'll be doing everything yourself."

"You need to get your son back. I'm not suited for this."

"That's ―" King Ryouhei broke off as his spatial ring glowed and he heard a ringtone. He took out his phone, and checked the message. His face turned ashen as he read it, and immediately wheeled out. "I'm sorry Ryouta! Stay here and read all you want! I have to go!"

Before Kise could even open his mouth, the King was already gone through the door.

…

"Mashiro! It's me, Ritsuko!" The Queen said as she knocked on the white door.

"Come in!" a male's voice shouted from the other side of the door. The Queen slid the door open and entered. Inside the room had a shelf to the left which had numerous test tubes, petri dishes, conical flasks and various chemicals. In front of the shelf was a large white table which had some documents lying about.

A tall male sat on one of the stools that surrounded the table which a pensive look on his face. He had beautiful black hair and bright blue eyes and was of a slim build. He donned a white lab-coat, over a grey tee and denim jeans. He was Hakase Mashiro.

"So, what have you found out?" Queen Ritsuko said as she sat.

"The other-world Ryouta is fundamentally weaker than we are biologically." Mashiro started. "If we use him as a basis, we could say that the people from his world are weaker compared to us."

"Is that so?" The Queen asked. "Not too long ago, he managed to break Ryouji's nose."

"Really?"

"Yeah, if I wasn't there and Ryou had told me, I would think he's lying." She smiled. But her face took on a much more serious expression. "Continue,"

"His genetic structure is the same as ours, albeit with a few differences due to his world not having Mana. But there is something that you should be prepared for."

"What's that?"

"When Ayane-san told me that Mana was killing him, I took some blood samples, when he was asleep of course, and infused Mana into Ryouta's cells and watched them. What I discovered was a shocker." Mashiro's face wore an indescribable expression. "Mana is altering his body on a cellular level, probably even at the atomic level.

"The first time I examined Ryouta's cells, I hadn't injected Mana into them. I noticed that they were aging and multiplying faster. However, I examined them not too long ago and found that their aging process was slowed and is _still_ being slowed."

"So…what are you saying?"

"Well, if Ryouta never came to this world, he'd start shrivelling at age sixty, which implies that the people of his world age faster than we do. But, according to what I've found out, given enough time, I suspect that he'd be as strong as us or even by extent, be able to use magic since currently, he can't as his body is not constituted for it."

"So…we live longer than people from Earth? How come?"

"Using the data from Kakihara-kun, and corroborating it with Ryouta's, I can say with confidence that Mana is what makes our lifespan the length it is." He answered. "However, that's not all. Our cognitive functions are because of Mana circulating in our brains as well. When Kakihara-kun had arrived here, he was only using twenty percent of his brain power.

"However, as time goes by, he's able to use the same amount of brain power as we do. Which is why I'd like to test Ryouta-kun as well. Because if this is true, then, he'll eventually, his brain will start processing things as fast as us."

The Queen gasped. "This is a serious matter, let's say we've found a way to send him back at this moment, will Mana stop affecting him?"

The scientist shook his head. "The process has already started, there's no stopping it."

"But there's no threat to his life, right?"

Mashiro laughed. "Nope! He's as healthy as a dragon!" his face then changed. "However, I'm not sure what the effects are due to the Mana changing him. Maybe, he'll undergo the changes and not realize, or he may experience pain…"

Hearing the experience pain part, she remembered what King Ryouhei told her when she came back. During his interrogation, Kise had suddenly collapsed and was coughing up blood and bleeding from his eyes, not to mention having body spasms. And this was just the aftermath of having too much Mana in his system. She couldn't bear to imagine the horror that will happen due to his body being changed.

Seeing the distressed look on the Queen's face, Mashiro quickly said, "There's nothing to worry about. After the side-effects pass, then he'll be back to normal!"

"Like Kakihara-kun, right?"

"Hopefully, after all, Kakihara-kun and Ryouta-kun aren't from the same world. I don't know how he'll be affected, really."

The Queen was flabbergasted. This was something she'd never expect. Quickly, she took out her phone from her spatial ring and told her AI to send a message to her husband, "Tell him to get his twisted ass to Mashiro's Lab right now." She had instructed.

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review!**_


	7. First Day at Kaijou High School

_**A/N: Thank you all for your faves, reviews and follows!**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

* * *

Chapter 7

 _First day at Kaijou High School_

…

 _[While Kise was busting Ryouji's ass]…_

To say that Ryouta was excited would be an understatement.

Yesterday, his new parents and Hakase explained to him the school system of Japan. It greatly differred from his world but that's what makes it all the better. In fact, all he cared about were the sports. Since he had no sports in his world, he wanted to see what they were like. He knew about basketball from the outset, but apparently, there were rugby, swimming, volleyball, tennis and that was just a few out of the many.

At the moment, he was sitting in the sofa in the living room, dressed in Kaijou's uniform. But unlike Earth's Kise Ryouta, he wore his a little bit differently. His grey blazer and white shirt were cuffed up to his forearm, but he wore no tie. His pants were the same; he had cuffed the legs up to his shin to reveal white sneakers.

He didn't wear his watch since he knew that the time on Earth is far different from Sekai but he didn't leave out his inter-spatial ring.

"Ryouta?" he looked up to see Ryouhei looking at him with confusion.

"Is there something on my face?" the Prince asked.

"Your uniform." Ryouhei deadpanned. "It's not supposed to be worn like that." His eyes then looked at his feet. "And sneakers aren't apart of the dress code."

Ryouta frowned. "But this is how I wear my uniform. And plus, school back home doesn't care whichever shoes we wear."

"Well, this is not your Kingdom. This is Japan. The sneakers and the cuffed legs have to go."

"Why?" Ryouta whined.

Ryouhei's face darkened. The dark aura that seeped out of the man was akin to say 'are you questioning me?' ―Ryouhei's face was absolutely scary. And seeing that, the Prince knew what he had to do.

Without hitch, Ryouta untied the laces, took the shoes off and undid the cuffs on his pants. He marched back to his room and then proceeded to look for Kise's school shoes. Upon seeing them, he frowned as he preferred to wear soft and comfy sneakers.

The Prince returned to the living room with a sour look on his face, Ryouhei could only shake his head at the boy. It's been roughly three and a half days since he's arrived, and honestly, Ryouhei wants _his_ ball of sunshine back. Even though the Prince could be childish and playful like his son; he was too hard to handle at times, and had a temper that left the older Kise wondering who he got it from.

"There, all fixed." Ryouta said as he stopped in front of Ryouhei. The cuffed sleeves were still there, but the man decided to let it slide. After all, many students wore that style anyway.

The doorbell rang, and immediately Ryouta dashed towards the door. Swinging it open, a big grin formed onto his face. Hakase stood before him, holding a huge box like thing wrapped in a green cloth.

"The hell is that?" Ryouta asked.

"Obento." Hakase deadpanned.

"Hoh? For me?" the Prince was beaming.

"No, for us. You can't possibly eat off all of this ―" Hakase broke himself off. He knew for a fact that his best friend was a heavy eater despite being a model. "Well, it's for both of us. Don't let me starve."

Ryouhei walked up to the two boys. "Why did you make a bento?"

"Because I'm not sure if Ryouta's taste buds will like what's in the cafeteria. I mean, we all saw the disaster that happened yesterday and Saturday evening."

Ryouhei nodded. It was truly a disaster indeed. Almost everything that they had cooked up the Prince had found fault, and had bawled about wanting meat from 'Kirin' which doesn't exist in this world. But after much toiling and many trips to the supermarket, they finally found a couple things that the Prince found delicious.

However, in order for him to blend in with society, they planned to conduct more tasting sessions.

"That's right," Ryouhei agreed. Then, his mood suddenly changed into a much brighter one. "Let's go. I can't have His Highness late on his first day." He joked.

"Yes! I'm finally going to see what kind of school you go to!" The Prince shrieked in happiness. He then took the bento from Hakase and stored in it his spatial ring. "And yes, I know that I'm not supposed to use my ring in public." Ryouta said quickly as if he could sense the oncoming warning.

Once the boys were seated in the car and buckled their seatbelts, Ryouhei drove off.

Ryouta saw Hakase rummage through his bag and afterwards pulled out a paperback book. He passed it to the Prince, who looked at him quizzically.

"It's a basic basketball book." Hakase said. "I can't help you practically, so this is the most I can do."

"Ah, thanks." The Prince opened the book and skimmed through first. However, he stumbled upon something that caught his eye. "Mahiro, what does a manager do?"

"Hmm…" Hakase said. He was never in any sports club, so he didn't really know what a manager did. But recalling what Kise had always talked about Momoi, he answered, "I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I do know that they analyze other teams and plan strategies."

Ryouta gave him a smug look. "You mean, they gather data on the other team's players and plan against them, right?"

"Yeah, that's one of the duties of a manager, but the main and most important one." Hakase nodded. "Since basketball has been around for so long, the moves have been refined to perfection, so most matches depend on how well teams strategize."

"Then, it's similar to warfare! This should be fun!"

"Well, sports are entertaining wars, so to speak. Teams fight tooth and nail against each other for the win, sometimes it even gets aggressive."

The Prince looked like he was about to tear up. "Why didn't you tell me this earlier? Since I can't play, I can utilize what I learn in school and bring our school to victory! Those bitches won't know what hit them!"

Hakase shook his head. "Nope, you need to learn how to play."

Ryouta raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because there are Bakemono on the court that you need to slay." The raven-haired boy smirked.

"I thought this world doesn't have any…"

Hakase burst with laughter. "They're not like the disgusting creatures of your world. They're human teenagers, but their skill in the sport is so amazing that I personally think they are monsters. Kaijou needs you to take them down." Hakase continued, "As a matter of fact, you're the only one who could stand up to them. My Ryou could, so you have to, too."

Strangely, the Prince was smiling. "Well, since they're akin to Bakemono, I'll rip them to shreds. I just need a teacher or a video of what I need to learn and I'm fine."

Hakase smiled. "That can be arranged, the video that is."

"Good, now, how about you become our team's manager?"

Hakase choked on his own spit, "I can't! I know nothing about basketball or how to strategize!"

"Don't worry my Little Scientist," Ryouta cooed, throwing an arm over his shoulder. "That's where we'll work together. You said that this sport has been going on for so long and the moves are pretty orthodox, right?"

"Yeah."

"So then that means, people develop some _orthodox_ methods to deal with these _orthodox_ moves, right?"

"Yes." Hakase answered, not knowing where the conversation was heading.

"And since you and I know nothing, we can develop _unorthodox_ plays and strategies to slay our enemies. Isn't that blissful?" Ryouta was grinning too much. "Oh, I can already see their faces of despair, their wails of anguish, their looks of incredulity…" The Prince started to chuckle evilly. "I can't wait to see them grovel before me!"

Hakase broke out in cold sweat. He was torn between worrying for the teams who Kaijou will face and the reactions of the team when they experience the Prince's personality. Ryouta seems like one sick bastard…

…

Reaching Kaijou's gates, Ryouta and Hakase exited the car and made their way to the shoe lockers. However, as soon as Ryouta opened Kise's shoe locker, his eyes spotted a small pink envelope. At first, he wanted to burn it with his magic, but he remembered that he was in a public space and the original Kise Ryouta would probably read it.

"Mahiro, there's an envelope in here. What should I do with it?"

"Is it pink?" Hakase asked as he put on his shoes.

"Yeah,"

"Read it and then throw it in the rubbish."

Ryouta was appalled. He thought Hakase would have encouraged him to read it and seek out the sender.

"Can't I just throw it away without reading it?"

Hakase straightened now that he had finished putting on his shoes. "No. You should at least know what's written in there. Girls can destroy your reputation you know? So, if anything, at least you took the time to read it."

Ryouta nodded at Hakase's reasoning. He took out the letter and read it. It wasn't a confession, but it was a request to meet on the roof. The Prince's face twisted unpleasantly. He hadn't time for this bullshit.

Seeing the angered look on the Prince's face, Hakase asked, "What's the matter? It's that…?"

"It's to meet on the roof after school. Like, I don't have the time for that!" Ryouta huffed.

Hakase sighed. "That's what you get for being a model. Girls are attracted to you like moths to a flame."

"Attracted?" Ryouta snorted. "These bitches have nothing to do with their lives, that's what."

Hakase chuckled. After the Prince changed his shoes, the two boys made their way to their classroom. All along the way, girls kept eyeing the Prince and made even greeted him but he wasn't interested. If anything, Ryouta was annoyed. The shrieks and giggles were irritating, and he wondered how Kise managed to stay sane. He was close to snapping and as if Hakase could sense the Prince's anger, he took swift action.

"Hey, want to go up to the roof?"

"Why?"

"Everyone is in their classrooms at this time; you'll be disturbed if we head there now."

"Sure, these thirsty bitches are pissing me off."

Hakase didn't know whether or not to laugh or feel sorry for the girls. Ryouta was ruthless and he wouldn't want to imagine what would have happened if he hadn't acted.

The two boys marched up to the roof, the chattering and laughter slowly fading away behind them. The Prince was becoming at ease, and as Hakase opened the door, a soothing breeze caressed their faces.

"Feel much better now?" Hakase asked. But deep down, he's fretting about the remainder of the day. The school day hadn't even started yet and Ryouta was already getting pissed off. Hakase sighed. He knew that he'll be doing some serious damage control.

"What's with the sigh?" Ryouta asked.

"I have a feeling that you'll be stressing me out today."

The Prince looked like a wounded puppy. "I'm hurt by that, Mahiro." he pouted.

"Well, sorry," Hakase said without any emotion. "It's just that your temper will probably put you in trouble. You're pretty unpredictable, you know?"

"I'll behave myself. I promise." Ryouta said swiftly. "As long as I'm not provoked."

"Who would provoke you?" Hakase laughed. "Ryou was never provoked at school, so it shouldn't happen."

"Then, there's nothing to worry about! Nothing can go wrong!"

Hearing that statement, Hakase felt as though the Prince had just jinxed the day.

…

Their first class for the day was Math. There were forty students in five rows and were seated by the numbers they were assigned on the first day. Luckily, both Hakase and Ryouta's seat were close. Both boys were around the back; however, one seat separated the two.

The Prince was elated at this, as he could continue to read up about basketball without the teacher knowing. Taking out his textbook and notebook from Kise's bag, Ryouta placed the basketball book inside the textbook to seem as though he was looking at schoolwork.

Hakase kept stealing glances at the Prince, to see if all was right. The blond seemed to be immersed in his own world, and since the teacher was present, everyone else was focused on the board. Hakase let out a breath; maybe he was worked up for no reason.

The class continued so far without incident. By the time it was thirty minutes in, the teacher seemed to have caught a glimpse of Ryouta and noticed that he was engrossed in something that may not have been related to what he's teaching.

"Kise-kun," the teacher called.

Hakase froze. He looked across to Ryouta, but the Prince hadn't budged.

"Kise-kun," the teacher called once again.

Hakase started to fret. He deduced that since Ryouta isn't accustomed to being addressed by his surname, he hadn't realized that the teacher was calling him. As for the teacher, he thought that Ryouta was blatantly ignoring him.

"Kise Ryouta-kun!" he shouted.

Finally, the Prince looked up and saw that everyone's eyes were on him. "What?" he asked as though he was bothered.

The teacher twitched with anger. "You don't pay attention in my class, you ignore me and now you're asking 'what?' as though I'm bothering you? How dare you?"

Ryouta stared blankly at the teacher. As a matter of fact, he didn't understand what the old man was blabbing about.

"Get up here and solve this question."

Ryouta still looked uninterested. "The answer to questions one, three and five is 2, 8 and 4.5; for number two, the line intersects circle at (1/5, 7/5 ) and (3,7). For number four, the line touches the circle at (4,0)."

"That―that's correct…" the teacher breathed out in shock. The students were frightened at this, as the Kise they knew couldn't solve a math question just by looking at it.

Ryouta humphed. "Of course, it's correct. Who do you take me for?"

But the teacher didn't even hear that. He was far too shocked to register anything. In his class, Kise was an average student, depending on the topic, he got As and Bs, other times he got Cs and Ds. But never before has Kise done anything like this.

However, it's a pity that no one knew that the Kise Ryouta who should be sitting there is currently in another world.

…

But, after math class, the first half of the school day progressed normally, Ryouta learnt his lesson and during these classes, he occasionally pretended to be paying attention.

And so, time sped up to lunch.

"Stay put, Your Highness." Hakase said in a strict tone as if warning a little child.

"Where are you going?" Ryouta asked.

"To the soda machine. We need to something to drink as well." Hakase said in a matter-of-factly. After that, he exited the classroom swiftly, leaving the Prince alone. For once, he felt the weight of loneliness crash down on him. The classroom had cleared out a bit, leaving some students who were eating with their friends. But, he couldn't even hold a conversation with anyone if it isn't Hakase.

The feeling was terrible.

Even though he was a Prince, he was never isolated before. In his Kingdom, he and his brothers went to normal schools, and had normal friends because no one knew their identities. They had even assumed different surnames as 'Kise' is the name of the Royal Family.

Ryouta sighed. Not only will he need to be able to play basketball, he'll need to get some acquaintances. This lonesome experience is not going to cut it.

"Kise-kun?"

He was taken out his thoughts when he heard the high-pitched voice.

"Yes?" he answered. He looked up and saw a girl, who seemed pretty harmless.

"Can I have your autograph on this book, please?"

For once, the Prince didn't mind. This girl seemed calm and not like the crazy bitches he's encountered throughout the day. And she actually said 'please'. He was about to take the pen and the photobook when he realized that he didn't know Kise's signature.

Not wanting the girl before him to feel discouraged, he said, "How about I take a picture with you instead? My hand is not a hundred percent right now…"

He didn't finish his sentence due to the girl beaming with joy. "Sure!" she perked.

The girl whipped out her phone and handed it to the Prince. He beckoned her to sit beside him in Hakase's chair, threw a hand over her shoulder and poised the phone above them. Smiling, the two took the photo. With an overjoyed face, the girl dashed off as soon as Ryouta returned her phone.

The Prince exhaled a relief, seeing that something went well in Hakase's absence. But little did he know that it would bring a catastrophe.

Not even a minute passed and a horde of girls came rushing in the classroom towards him. He stole a glance at the window, seriously contemplating whether or not he should jump through to escape. But, remembering that he couldn't use magic openly, Ryouta had no choice but to face these girls head on.

"Kise-kun! Take a picture with me too!"

"No me!"

"Me!"

And the shrieks continued.

Ryouta had to bite the inside of his jaw so as to not lash out at these girls. Taking deep breaths, he figured that the best way to get rid of them is to just give them what they wanted. Recalling what Hakase told him this morning, he knew that the other Ryouta would have done it.

"Alright, form a line. Let's get this over with before Mahiro comes back. I have to eat, you know?"

Due to their joy, the poor girls missed the vicious eye roll and the look of absolute disgust on the Prince's face. One by one the girls gave Ryouta their cellphones which he used to take a single picture with them. He was _not_ going give them more than that.

But inwardly, Ryouta cursed.

He never knew that taking a picture with one girl would cause this many to attack him. He now knew why Hakase said that he's like a flame that attracted these moths. After a couple minutes, the crowd of girls subsided, the Prince letting out a sigh of relief. His left hand had started to hurt.

He slumped in his seat, wondering what took Hakase so long to return. He wanted to chat, he wanted to feel comfortable…he wanted to get rid of this lonely feeling.

As if on cue, the door opened and in came the raven-haired with two bottles of orange juice.

"Yo! Did you miss me?" Hakase asked with a grin.

"You have no idea!" Ryouta whined. "I was so lonely! Next time, take me with you!"

Hakase jolted from the sudden outburst. The Prince looked as though he was about to tear up. The raven-haired boy couldn't believe it. Was this the same cold-hearted and ruthless bastard from this morning?

"Ah…" Hakase couldn't even find the right words to say. Seeing how the Prince acted now reminded him greatly of Kise, which he found to be a relief. It seems the two Ryouta were different yet still the same.

"So, can we eat now?"

"Hai, hai."

Opening up the bento, the Prince felt like he saw Heaven. Half of the bento had steamed rice with roasted sesame seeds and _umeboshi_ (pickled plum) on top. In the left hand corner of it had sweet and sour chicken, _ajitsuke tamago_ (ramen egg) and _tamagoyaki_ (egg roll) neatly packed. Beside that on the other side was potato salad and cherry tomatoes.

Snatching up a pair of chopsticks, he dug in, and the moment he placed a _tamagoyaki_ in his mouth, his taste buds exploded. Unable to resist, the Prince continued to stuff his face. Watching the Prince, Hakase found out something that startled him. The Prince was left-handed, Kise was not.

He then wondered how that'll look; he's rarely ever seen a left-hander in basketball apart from Midorima Shintarou. But still, Midorima mostly shoots; he doesn't play with crazy antics like Kise would.

Furthermore, remembering the shooter brought a new horror to Hakase. Ryouta will sooner or later encounter the Miracles. Kise was friends with them since middle school; Ryouta however, never had a relationship with the Miracles in his world since they live in different countries.

Oh shit.

"Mahiro…" Ryouta said, taking him out of his thoughts. The blond was wiping tears of joy. "This is just too good…"

"I know, it's great. After all, it's made by yours truly." He huffed with pride.

Ryouta's eyes widened. "I know you could cook, but you made all this? By yourself?"

"Naturally," But catching the look of absolute shock on the Prince's face, Hakase then asked, "What's the matter?"

"This is at the housewife level!"

Hakase froze. He didn't know if the Prince was praising his culinary skills or calling him a housewife. But another thing shocked the raven-haired. Ryouta was a Prince, wasn't he privy to delicious tasting food all his life?

"What's with that reaction? Never eaten anything good before in your life?"

Ryouta made a playful gasp and placed his middle and index finger before his mouth. "Of course I have! It's just that your foods are different from my world, albeit some things still remain, but I've never eaten anything like this before."

"I see."

"You know, I could have you executed for dissing our cook." Ryouta then added, "Be grateful."

"Ha!" Hakase laughed. "For someone who doesn't even know his address to threaten me, the one who acts as his tour guide and personal guide, is pretty hilarious!"

"You forgot housewife." Ryouta said with a smirk. "This food is filled with love." He joked as he took a bite of the chicken.

"I'm going to cut your tongue out."

"You'll be electrocuted the moment you touch me."

Hakase grinned triumphantly. "Well, I'm not going to take you to Akiba, or teach you how to play video games, or become the basketball team's manager…but worst, I won't cook for you!"

Ryouta's face paled. "I'm sorry!" he wailed, causing what few students in the classroom to look at them. "But please! Don't let me starve!"

"That's a good boy." Now Hakase knew what the Prince's leash was.

…

After lunch, the boys went through the remainder of their classes without incident. But when Geography class had begun, Ryouta had worn a shocked expression for the entire time and Hakase had to wonder if the Prince had seen or remembered something disastrous.

Passing a paper note to the boy, Hakase had found out that Earth's world map was the same as Sekai's, and the 'continent' which the Prince's Kingdom is located was none other than Japan.

Hakase was shaken by that piece of information.

That would explain why there are duplicates of the people found here. Still, the same exact map for two different worlds? Was that a lucky coincidence? Or was it just downright creepy? Hakase thought about all the things that he's experienced with the Prince so far ―superior technology, magic and some serious math skills. Could Sekai actually be what Earth would have been if they could have used magic or whatever? Or is it possible that overtime, Earth would become like Sekai in terms of technology?

Hakase let out a chuckle. It was definitely not going to be in his lifetime or his children's. Just seeing how Kei operated on Ryouta's phone was enough to dash that dream.

…

At the end of the school day, before Hakase left for the science club, he showed Ryouta the locker rooms and instructed the boy to act accordingly. When Ryouta entered, he was greeted by the team and he simply nodded and smiled at them. The members noticed something odd about the blond, but they didn't say anything.

When they all reached in the gym, they greeted Takeuchi. The man nodded at the bunch after which he told them that practice won't start for another fifteen minutes. The boys dispersed, but Ryouta felt a bit out of place. Everyone was chatting and laughing but he didn't know what to say to them, not even Moriyama and Kobori whom he recognized.

Swiftly but silently he whisked himself away from the crowd and stood by the gym doors. He felt extremely lonely, and wished that he could be with Hakase right now. At least he'd have someone to chat with.

The regulars of Kaijou noticed Ryouta's withdrawn demeanour and proceeded to ask what the matter was for him to be behaving like this. However, the instant they moved off, they heard Takeuchi's voice resounding in the gym.

"Alright! Gather 'round!"

Not wanting to draw too much suspicion, Ryouta walked boldly into the gym, having an air of confidence about him. Even though he knows next to nothing about basketball, he's behaving as though he's the best player there is.

"Before we start, let's do some housekeeping." Takeuchi started. "Inter-High is coming up, and we have get into high gear. The Preliminaries start next week, and here are the brackets."

He handed the papers to the boys present, Ryouta staring blankly at the sheet. Since he doesn't have sports in his world, he didn't know what was happening. As Takeuchi continued to explain, the Prince could grasp the main idea.

Apparently, they're participating in an event called Inter-High but to get to the actual Tournament, they'll need to get pass the Preliminaries. The sheet of paper indicates who their prospective opponents will be. And sadly, the Ryouta of this world was one of the best in the sport; all eyes were always on him when he's playing.

The Prince sighed. This was not going to be fun. If he could only plan their strategies without having to step foot on the court, then he'd be fine. But no, Earth's Ryouta decided to be a star and now everyone expects great things of him.

How awful.

Ryouta was not amused. This meant that he has to put in _extra_ effort to be able to play this sport so that no one will know the discrepancy. Still, the only reason why Ryouta is actually thinking of doing this is because compared to what Kise had to do in Sekai; learning to basketball is child's play.

"Kise, are you alright?"

The Prince jumped in fright. Looking at the boy beside him, Ryouta immediately knew who he was. The male counterpart to his Yukio-senpai back home. There were only two reasons why he'd figured this out ―one, Hakase had told him in the café that Yukio was a male here and two ―this teen looked like a younger version of Kasamatsu Mitsurou, who is Yukio's father.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just caught up in my thoughts, that's all."

"Hmm…" the raven-haired hummed. Kasamatsu had noticed something off about the blond the moment he arrived. Normally, Kise would be a ball of sunshine, greeting them with a smile that rivals the sun. But this boy had only entered the gym and seemed, dare he say it ―lost.

His brown eyes had scanned the gym as though it was the first time being here, and he was a bit jumpy to certain things and unresponsive.

"If you say so, but remember, if there's anything bothering you, I'm all ears."

The Prince opened his mouth but closed it before anything came out. He wanted to tell Kasamatsu his predicament, but would that be a good idea? If he's like Yukio from his world, wouldn't he get kicked for fooling around in this (seemingly) important time?

"I do." He said anyway. He thought that well, they're bound to find out that he couldn't play basketball. He couldn't fake amnesia because for such a serious injury, he shouldn't be at school currently.

"What is it?"

"I…forgot how to play basketball."

Kasamatsu's eyes remained unchanged. "You're trying to piss me off, aren't you? How can you forget to play basketball all of a sudden? Friday, you were all fired up and ready to take on the world."

Ryouta slumped. This was a bad idea and worse, Hakase is at his club. "I ―" Ryouta was cut off due to the gym doors swinging wide open with a bang. A tall dark haired teen stood in the doorway panting heavily; however, his brown eyes were filled with rage. He scanned the boys present seeming in a frantic search.

Takeuchi hated these disturbances. The fangirls were enough to piss him off and this boy looks like trouble.

But, before the coach could act, the boy dashed towards Ryouta and grabbed him in his shirt.

"You son of a bitch!" he roared. Ryouta looked at him with confused eyes. It was his first day, how could he have pissed off anyone?

"How may I help you?" he asked, trying not to stir up anything and trying his utmost best not to snap the fellow's neck.

"You can start by leaving my girlfriend alone! How dare you take a picture with her like that?!"

"Well excuse me for being a model with fans." The Prince replied coolly. "Shouldn't you be telling her to stay from me? I mean, I don't walk around offering free pictures like I'm a charity." Ryouta then added. "Plus, there's no way I'd be interested in your girlfriend. Why should I be?"

"Are you saying that she's not ―"

"She's not good enough for me. Why the hell would I bother?" Ryouta said, completely without malice and offense, but, the boyfriend thought the opposite.

"You dog…!" He screamed and landed a punch squarely in the Prince's face.

…

"I think we could try to invent something." A tall dark haired boy said. "That's the best way to show our creativeness."

Beside him, another boy snorted. "Like what, a cellphone with an AI? Come on, Eguchi…do better."

Hakase nearly fell off the stool. Hearing that was too close to home. Currently, he was in his club meeting, and they were discussing what to do for a Science convention coming up in a month's time. There was a good amount of students within the Lab, although, there could be more when compared to the other clubs.

"Well, that's not possible right now, but we can brainstorm can't we?" This time, it was a blond who spoke. She stood beside the teacher who was sitting around the table at the front.

"Students, we have to take this serious, don't you want to win that grand prize?" the teacher smirked. He was a young fellow, with black hair and matching eyes.

"Yes!" the students chirped in unison.

"Then think!"

Just as Hakase was about to say something, he felt a chill down his spine. Immediately getting onto his feet, the teacher asked,

"Something came to mind, Hakase-kun?"

"No, my Ryouta senses are tingling." And with that, he dashed out of the lab, leaving everyone speechless.

"Well damn," Eguchi started. "When you're so close to your best friend you develop a sixth sense that alerts you when he's in trouble."

"Maybe we should experiment on that."

Hakase sprinted down the hallway and down the steps ending up onto the corridor. Thankfully, this connected the vocational block to the labs so he used it as a shortcut to get to the gym.

Hakase prayed that nothing happened and this was just him being paranoid and overreacting. But that chill…it wasn't normal. As a matter of fact, the day was just too normal. Apart from the incident in math class, Ryouta had behaved himself as he'd promised, but the Prince was like a wild beast. If one provokes him, then it means certain death.

Finally, he made his way to the gym and heard shouting. By the time he opened the doors, he saw a tall male who was grabbing Ryouta's collar swung a punch that landed in the Prince's face.

Ryouta grabbed the boyfriend by the neck and slammed his body into the floor, the wood flying and jutting upwards, forming a crater. Blood erupted from the mouth of the boy, but the Prince didn't care.

"How dare you?" Ryouta snarled. Without releasing the boy's neck, Ryouta held him upwards in the air, eyes burning with rage.

"RYOUTA!", "KISE!"

Hakase and the basketball club screamed at the blond boy simultaneously, causing him to release the boy who fell to the ground unconscious.

"What?" he asked with a vicious snarl.

Kasamatsu and everyone looked mortified, they intended to stop it but the Prince had moved too quickly. There was a repulsive aura that surrounded Ryouta, inducing those around him in a petrifying fear.

"Ryouta!" Hakase screeched once more as he dashed over. "How…what happened?" He wasn't going to judge the Prince, seeing that the guy had swung the punch first.

"He punched me, thinking that I wanted his girlfriend." Ryouta spat. "Damn fucker,"

By this time, Takeuchi had rushed over to the bleeding boy, while another club member had gone to get the nurse.

"That's it?"

"Yes, that's it. I tried my best Mahiro. I spoke politely and calmly and he still punched me." The Prince was extremely upset, so much that faint traces of lightning was crackling around his body. "As if I'd want his bitch."

"Kise? Is that you?" Kasamatsu came up and ask. "What's…How…" due to his shock, he couldn't even find the right words to say. He looked back and forth the boy who lay in the crater and the blond Prince.

Their ace would have never behaved like this. Sure, if he was punched, then he would have probably retaliated with another punch. But this…there were even bright hand prints on the boy's neck!

"Kise, is there anything bothering you?" Nakamura asked. He figured that maybe Kise was troubled and had no means of letting it out. So all those bottled-up feelings just burst forth at the worst possible time.

"Sorry, he's suffering from Intermittent Explosive Disorder." Hakase lied quickly. Well, the Prince does have explosive tendencies, but Hakase didn't know if that disorder was the cause.

"I don't have a disorder!" Ryouta shouted in denial.

"Intermittent…what?" Kobori asked.

"Hair-trigger temper." Hakase simplified. "At the slightest provocation he's going to erupt in a fit of rage."

They gasped. "No way! Kise was always like that?!"

"No, he developed it Friday evening." That was the date and time in which the Prince had arrived on Earth.

But before the others could ask about the plausibility of that statement, the nurse had finally arrived and upon hearing Takeuchi's account of the incident, he decided to call an ambulance instead. The student that attacked the Prince was still unconscious, the marks on his neck seeming to be throbbing.

A couple minutes passed and the ambulance arrived, drawing a crowd of students as well.

…

Ryouhei had a bad feeling. Ever since he dropped off the boy's at school, there was a sinking feeling in the pits of his stomach and he didn't know what to think of it. He sat in his office, gazing through the window at the city below.

Suddenly, his office phone rang.

Picking it up, immediately, his face lost all its colour. The person on the other end of the line was none other than the Principal of Kaijou High School. And what he said left the older Kise shaken.

Ryouhei then left his office, giving his secretary instructions until his return. He jumped into his car heading straight for his son's school. He cursed himself for not giving the Prince more time to acclimate himself with Japan first before sending him to school.

What happened today was nothing short of a nightmare, but he needed to know Ryouta's side of the story. Even though the boy had his ways, Ryouhei was sure he wouldn't assault someone without a reason.

Within thirty minutes of speed driving and taking shortcuts, Ryouhei finally arrived at Kaijou and saw that some students who had remained at school seemed to be on edge. He managed to spot Kasamatsu and the others, jogging about with a restless look on their faces. He figured that they must have seen what had happened.

Ignoring the boys, he swiftly made his way to the office.

After being let in by the secretary, Ryouhei was greeted by the Principal and he took a seat beside Ryouta. The Prince was still in his training clothes and sat cross-legged in the chair with his arms folded. The Prince's face was twisted with rage and Ryouhei didn't even know what to say in this situation.

"I've called you here because of the incident your son caused." The elderly man started. "Kise-kun was in a fight today, well, more like, a one-sided fight."

Ryouhei stole a glance at the Prince. "How is it a one-sided fight? I know my son wouldn't mercilessly beat someone to death."

The Principal sighed. "Your son was not at fault, but he still should have shown some restraint. Today, Kise-kun took a photo with a female student. It turns out that same student had a romantic relationship with a male student. Apparently, he was enraged and thought that Kise-kun wanted to steal his girlfriend. Storming into the gym, both he and Kise-kun were engaged in a heated argument ―"

"He was the only heated one," Ryouta cut the man off with a huff.

"―after which the boy threw a punch at Kise-kun." The Principal continued, pretending as though he wasn't interrupted.

"Well, naturally any hot-blooded human being would return that." Ryouhei said.

"That's true, but your son held the boy by his neck and pounded him into the ground. The marks are still around his neck, and he's sustained damages to his back." The Principal said coolly. "I'm told that Kise-kun knows Martial Arts. Why didn't he restrain himself? The boy is currently unconscious at the hospital."

"This is serious." Ryouhei said with a shrug. "But, if that boy didn't provoke my son, he would've been fine, right? Don't get me wrong, Ryou had no right to damage him like that."

"I didn't know he was so weak!" Ryouta said. "I didn't even use all my strength!"

Seeing the sincere look on the Prince's face, Ryouhei made a quick deduction ―since the Prince's world had magic, there's a possibility that they could be physically stronger too. Obviously, the Prince wouldn't know that Human beings are weaker than Ningen.

"It is a pity that that had to happen, but as you said, my son isn't at fault."

"But, for his actions, he'll be receiving a one week's suspension."

Ryouta flared up. "Suspension!? For defending myself!? If that fucker had kept his bitch on a leash, I wouldn't have to ―" The Prince broke off when a hand covered his mouth.

A dark aura was seeping out of Ryouhei's body, his face darkened to the point where it seemed to be the coalescence of numerous storm clouds. Ryouhei excused himself from the office, dragging Ryouta along with him. The Prince knew what was coming next. After Ryouhei closed the door behind them, the Principal heard deathly silence after which the two emerged once again.

"I'm extremely sorry for my behaviour earlier on." Ryouta said with a deep bow. He was also breaking out in cold sweat.

But that didn't stun the Principal. This was not the Kise Ryouta he knew. This boy before him seemed like a different individual altogether, was he probably going through stress which would cause him to lash out like this?

"Kise-san," the Principal started with a stupefied look on his face. "Do you have twin sons?"

Ryouhei looked confused. "No, I don't. Why the awkward question?"

"I was just wondering if the Kise Ryouta who was admitted to Kaijou was elsewhere and his twin had come to fill in or something." The man replied. "His personality is too different from the Kise Ryouta I know. It's like he's a different person only with Kise-kun's face."

"He's just in his rebellious phase."

The Principal looked shocked. "Isn't he a bit too old for that?"

"He's a late bloomer."

With a nod of understanding the meeting continued, and the Prince still got the suspension. The Prince kept his mouth shut for the entire time, not wanting to incur the wrath of his father once again. Although this world was devoid of magic, Earth's Ryouhei was no less scary than his father back home.

…

Hakase stood by the gate with Ryouta's bag. He's seen Ryouhei's car and couldn't help but worry for what had become of the Prince. Not long after, he saw the two coming towards him, the Prince looking utterly pissed while Ryouhei seemed to have the weight of the world gone off his shoulders.

"Mahiro!" Ryouta shouted as he dashed towards him. "This is the worst! Your school is bullshit!" He threw himself onto Hakase and burst into comical tears.

"What happened, Kise-san?" He asked.

"He got suspended." Ryouhei replied with a sigh. "I'm just glad that the Principal didn't add another week to it for his outburst earlier."

Hakase sighed. He could only imagine what that outburst could entail. Ryouhei then walked towards his car and entered the driver's side. He unlocked the other doors so that the boy's could enter the vehicle.

When settled down, the Prince was still in a bad mood, but instead of being angry at the world, he seemed to be sad more than anything. Hakase rubbed his back trying to soothe him, and for once, Ryouhei didn't feel like the blond boy in his car wasn't from another world.

Well, looking into this, Ryouhei thought that it was probably for the best. That way, the Prince has more time to understand the dos and don'ts of Japan. But apart from that, the older Kise prayed that the other boy's parents don't plan to sue.

"Ryou, hurry up and come back home…" he mumbled to himself.

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review!**_


	8. The Dribble and the Spear

_**A/N: Thanks to all those who have faved, reviewed and followed!**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

* * *

Chapter 8

 _The Dribble and the Spear._

…

Ryouhei dropped off the two boys at his house before leaving once again for his office. Due to the sudden call from Kise's Principal, he had to dash out, leaving many unattended issues at work.

"I can't believe you got a suspension on your first day of school." Hakase said in shock. He took a seat on the sofa in the living room.

"Your principal is a fucking dunce, that's what." Ryouta spat as he sat in the sofa beside Hakase. But there was an underlying sadness lingering in his voice. "If it were my school, I wouldn't be in this mess." He whined.

"Really? How come?" Hakase said.

"Well, since I was the one who was provoked, the boy would have been the only one punished. After all, I was minding my own business when he popped up and attacked me."

" _Really?"_ Hakase couldn't believe it. On Earth, it doesn't matter who started a fight first, both parties would have been punished, albeit the aggressor would have gotten a more severe punishment.

"Yeah," Ryouta said with a nod. "That's how it goes in my Kingdom. It takes two to fight but one to initialize it."

"But I think this is pretty fortunate for you. You can take this week to learn the basics of basketball and proper school conduct."

"Mahiro, I can behave myself, you know? I'm a Prince after all." Ryouta huffed. "There's an event called Inter-High Preliminaries coming up next week."

"Right…"

"That means, you need to get in high gear as our manager!"

Hakase groaned. "Don't remind me."

The Prince slumped in his seat. Hakase noticed that ever since this incident, Ryouta seemed sad instead of angry. Given his personality, Hakase expected the Prince to probably burn down the school in his rage. But what was this side of Ryouta that he's seeing?

"Are you alright?" he then asked.

"Yeah, I just need to vent. And sadly, there're no Bakemono in this world and I may end up as a murderer if I were to punch someone."

Hakase nodded at the Prince to indicate that his reasoning was right. There were many ways in which people relieved themselves of stress ―either they scream, cry or destroy everything in sight. But treating him like Kise, Hakase decided to bring him to a street court with a basketball. Maybe he'll like the sport.

"Hey, wanna go out?"

"Yes!" Ryouta nearly screamed. All feelings of anger and sadness disappeared in an instant. "Are we going back to Akihabara?!"

"No, we're going to a street court." Hakase deadpanned.

Ryouta deflated instantly. "Street court? What's that?"

Hakase sighed. "It's a public basketball court."

The raven-haired boy then headed upstairs to Kise's room. He looked beside the bedside table and found the ball sitting perfectly there. Grabbing it, he headed back downstairs to meet the Prince.

"Here. That's called a basketball." He said as he threw the ball to the boy.

"Wait. This is a 'basketball'? Then the sport is named after the ball?"

"No, the sport is named as such because in order to win, a team has to score with this ball through the hoop which is essentially called a 'basket'. And since the main object used is a ball, it's called 'basketball'."

"Uh, huh." The Prince nodded in confusion. Hakase let out a sigh as this was the best he could explain. He wasn't a basketball fanatic, as a matter of fact, he knew next to nothing about the sport.

"Anyways, let's go." Hakase exited through the door with Ryouta following. The two boys walked down the street and upon rounding a corner, Hakase could spot the fence of the street court in the distance. Hastening his footsteps, within no time at all, they were at the street court.

Looking at the strange ball within his hands, the Prince was obviously at a loss as to what to do with it. He looked across to Hakase, who was busy scrolling through his cellphone. Shrugging, the Prince threw the ball onto the ground and was startled when it bounced back up to him.

He did it again.

The ball did the same thing. Finding this amusing, the Prince continued to do this, and honestly, he looked rather comical. When Hakase looked up and saw Ryouta supposedly playing with the ball, he chuckled.

"What an idiot." He laughed. He motioned towards the Prince and called him over. "Watch this first." Hakase gave the phone to the Prince with a YouTube video on pause.

"What's this?"

"It's a video which teaches one how to dribble and do a crossover."

"Dribble? Crossover?"

"It's how you advance forward with the ball, since in the sport you can't run while holding the ball in your arms. There are different dribbles ―crossovers, behind the back etc."

"Huh?"

Hakase twitched. "Just watch the damn video!"

With a sigh, Ryouta took the phone and focused entirely on the video. In fact, he tuned out what the guy in the video was saying, but instead, he watched his actions. The Prince figured that since he was strapped for time, he could leave the verbal instructions for later. After all, he has a week which is rather short compared to his world.

After the video was done, the Prince attempted to dribble. Even though Hakase didn't know much about basketball, but at least he knew a good dribble when he sees it. Kise was a fanatic so his eyes were trained well.

"I think I can do this…" Ryouta said with a mumble.

"You think?" Hakase asked. "I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't. After all, this is your first time seeing a dribble, much less a crossover."

Ryouta shot the boy a glare. "I am Kise Ryouta. I can do anything once I put my mind to it."

"Hoh?" Hakase said while folding his arms. "Is that so?"

With a smirk, Ryouta took the orange ball and proceeded onto the court. Using his strength, he bounced the ball continuously before running towards the net. Within the blink of an eye, he was standing below the basket, but he stopped instead of trying to do anything else (not that he knew what next to do anyway).

But Hakase could only gape in shock. While the Prince didn't do any complex dribble like the ankle break, he was still stunned. The ball returned to Ryouta's hands so fast that he lost track of it. It was somewhat similar to Hayama's Lightning Dribble, but Hakase had a feeling that the Prince's was faster. After all, the sound from the ball was deafening.

"So? What next?" Ryouta asked, standing akimbo.

Hakase took a step further and noticed the potholes in the ground. Just how hard was this boy dribbling?

"Ryouta, how's the ball?" Hakase asked. Seeing the indents in the ground made him wonder if the ball had deflated.

"It's…" The Prince trailed off as he took it up from the ground. A wry smile came onto his face. "…deformed."

Hakase sighed. He was surprised, but he should have known that this would have happened. After all, he did create a crater in the gym after he slammed the boy onto the floor. Just how strong was the Prince?

"You know what, you better gauge yourself. You can't be destroying every basketball court you step foot on."

"Is this unnatural?" Ryouta asked.

"Very." Hakase replied. "Human beings aren't that strong. Let's go home, you've wrecked the ball so you can't practice anymore."

"Who says I can't?" Ryouta grinned. From his index finger, a thread of Lightning appeared, and it travelled along the ball. Going to the deflated area, Hakase saw the ball slowly getting back its shape.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm just using my magic to fill the space to make it round again. After we're done it'll go right back to being deformed." The Prince shrugged casually.

"I see." Hakase didn't completely understand, but, who cares? When the ball was back to some normalcy, the Prince set off again, practicing the crossover dribble. Hakase sat on the bench and watched. Within the span of a couple minutes, the Prince left Hakase in shock. Ryouta has only watched the video once, and yet he's able to execute the moves with such precision already? His learning ability is frightening. About half an hour later, Ryouta finally decided to stop, and headed to the bench where Hakase was.

"So, how was it?" he perked. "I'm awesome, aren't I?"

Hakase gaped at the blond. "Do you have the copy ability as well?" He ended up asking. He knew of his best friend's cheat like ability.

"Copy? No. Is that some sort of magic?"

Hakase chuckled lightly. "I wish." But his smile then disappeared to reveal a more serious face. "How did you manage to learn that so fast?"

"I watched the video."

"No shit. But you've only watched it once and you're able to do a crossover already?"

"What can I say?" Ryouta huffed with pride. "My cognitive ability is just that amazing."

"Uh huh," Hakase nodded. But if that was the case with the Prince, what was it in Kise's case? He was sure that his best friend didn't have fast processing brain power.

"Mahiro~" Ryouta's voice brought Hakase out of his musings. "I'm hungry."

The raven-haired boy sighed. "I can't cook all the time for you, you know? Ryou could cook, so you should learn too."

"What? This is an outrage!" Ryouta shouted. "Aren't you supposed to be my housewife?!"

"I'm no one's housewife! I'm a flipping male!" Hakase countered. "I can teach you how to cook, if that's what you want."

"Preparing food on top of the stove is not my cup of tea." The Prince said with folded arms. "But, preparing food in the oven is my specialty."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, I can bake, not cook."

For the umpteenth time this evening, Hakase was left in shock.

…

Kise sat up in his bed.

His hair was in disarray, there were dark circles underneath his bloodshot eyes. For a model of his calibre, Kise looked disastrous. He looked to the window and saw that it was still night-time, but he felt that time was passing by a bit too slowly. Although the room had the perfect temperature, and the bed was perfectly comfortable, Kise still couldn't sleep.

His room was huge.

On one side of the side of his room, there was a bay window with double hung that almost took up the entire wall. There were bright orange curtains which were tied in the middle by a black silk cloth.

Beside the window was his bed, and beside his bed was a white bedside table with a lamp on it. So far, the lamp looked like it was made in Japan, but Kise knew that there was probably more to the furniture than meets the eye.

Directly in front of him was a walk-in closet which made Kise wonder just how much piece of clothing did the Prince have. Well, he was a Prince, so Kise quickly dismissed the thought. Next to the walk-in closet was another door, Kise was told that it led to his adjacent room, which housed books that his counterpart liked to read. He was relieved at that, seeing that the Prince liked to read books as much as he did. Beside the door was a beautiful blue dresser with labels on each of its drawers.

However, the entrance door was far away from his bed. It felt like it was miles away and this was probably the cause of Kise's supposedly insomnia. Being in such a big room by himself was not comforting, especially since he was used to his room from Earth. But on either side of the main door, there was a small door there, but Kise didn't know the use of it.

He got up and stood by the window, drinking in the beautiful sight. There were two moons in the night sky; the bigger and brighter one was a luminous white, while the other smaller had a soft blue glow about it. Seeing this, reassured Kise that he really was in a fantasy-like world; given all those high-tech devices he's seen all day, at least, this was somewhat within his expectations.

Suddenly, a face appeared outside his window. Frightened, Kise let out a scream while taking a step back and grabbed his chest. But before Kise knew it, he was gently pushed further to the door, while two figures stood before him in an imposing manner. The one directly in front of him had balls of Fire swirling around his clenched fists while the other stood with a gigantic scythe that had Fire raging around its blade.

Both males were dressed in a white long-sleeved double breasted military jacket and matching white pants which were tucked into shin-high black boots. They were both black-haired males with red eyes.

"Ryouji-sama?!" the two 'guards' screeched in shock upon realizing who was the 'intruder'.

"Heh, heh," the Second Prince chuckled nervously. "Sorry about that, guys. I just wanted to check up on Otouto here but I accidentally scared him."

The guard with the scythe twitched. The weapon then vanished inside the spatial ring on his index. "Can't you check up on him like a normal person? Do you really need to enter through the window? Seriously?!"

"Don't get your panties in a twist, Ken-chan." Ryouji said teasingly. "I just wanted to be the awesome big brother. What's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong? Are you an idiot, Your Highness!?" the other guard roared. "What if Ken had sliced you in half?!" the other guard shouted.

"Then it would be my fault for being careless. Ken-chan was just doing his job." Ryouji shrugged. "Calm down, Kibou-chan."

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Kibou roared. "It could have happened and all you do is pass it off as just Ken doing his job!? My brother would have been executed!"

"I see someone has forgotten how psychotic his father can be." Ken nodded in agreement. But then his voice softened. "Next time, use the door."

"But you all have forgotten how reasonable and understanding my father can be." Ryouji countered smoothly.

"You…" both Ken and Kibou didn't how to counter. While it was no secret of the King's personality, they personally wouldn't want to find out how 'reasonable' and 'understanding' he could be.

Kise, who had been watching this, didn't even know what to say. These were guards and they spoke to the Second Prince without restraint. Ryouji was fine with it as well, but seeing this made Kise wondered just how friendly the Royal Family was to the commoners. On Earth, normal people would have been killed for shouting at a prince and calling him an idiot.

"Ryouta-sama?" Kise came back to his senses when he heard Ken calling him. "Are you alright? You look stunned and awful." The older guard stooped down to his level. "Why do you look like…?"

"…shit?" Ryouji finished with a chuckle.

Kise reddened. "I just can't sleep, that's all."

"Can't sleep? That's pretty rough, Your Highness. You have a savage day ahead of you; you need to rest as much as you can." Kibou said with concern.

"Yeah, for some reason, His Majesty is taking the time out to teach you some Spear skills that you're lacking." Ken said. "Which I find strange, since you are a monster in terms of skills."

Kise was silenced. The Prince was that good? He let out a smile. While he was a "monster" in basketball, the Prince was a "monster" in using a Spear. At least some things never changed.

The guards then left the room, leaving the two brothers alone. Kise then looked to Ryouji as he needed an explanation. With an innocent smile, the older blond took a seat on Kise's bed and beckoned him to do so as well.

"The first thing, don't be so stiff around Ken-chan and Kibou-chan. You're supposed to be really close to them." He said with a smile. "Otouto was."

"Uh huh." Kise could only nod. But hearing that, made him start to fret. The Prince was now in his world, in what ways would he destroy his reputation and his relationships? Plus, there's Inter-High and since there're no sports in this world, it meant Ryouta didn't know how to play basketball. And if he should come into contact with Kasamatsu and the team and…Kise felt a headache coming.

Seeing the distressed look on Kise's face, Ryouji placed a hand on his shoulder. "Why the pained face?"

"I'm worried…Your brother may end up destroying my relationships back home."

Ryouji roared with laughter, clutching his abdomen while he was at it. "No need to worry, Otouto won't do such a thing. If he's provoked then, there's a possibility he'll snap and raze your school to the ground. But apart from that, I'm pretty sure he'll try to behave himself."

Walking to Ryouji, Kise noticed that the Second Prince was in pyjamas like he was. He found that strange, since the only reason why he wore the pyjamas was because it was the only thing in the closet to wear for night time. But, Ryouji was different…he should be older.

"Ryouji, you're twenty-one aren't you?" Kise asked. He used the same age as his sister Reiko, who's Ryouji's Earthly counterpart.

"Yeah, something the matter?"

"Why are you pyjamas?"

"Because I'm still a child." Ryouji said in a-matter-of-factly. He even looked at Kise's as though he was an idiot or something.

"How can a twenty-one year old be a child? That's ―" Kise broke himself off before starting up again. "What is your average life expectancy?"

"Well, if one isn't killed by a Bakemono in battle or isn't afflicted with some strange disease that we don't know about and can't treat, we typically live for like roughly four hundred years."

The colour drained out of Kise's face. The blond ace was in such a state that even Ryouji didn't know what to do.

"Is he in shock?" he wondered. "Oi Ryouta. Ryouta." He called as he continuously pat his cheeks. " _Ryouta!_ " he shouted this time.

Kise was finally back to reality, however, the dismal look on his face was still present. Ryouji wondered what the cause of this was, since all he ever spoke about what their life span. His eyes widened in realization.

"Ryouta…is it that your world's life expectancy is more or less than ours? Which is it?"

"I won't live that long." Kise managed to utter out. "In my world, Japanese males are estimated to live until eighty-one. Still, Humans struggle to reach one hundred and even if we do, we're usually weak and in essence, we revert to a child like state."

It was Ryouji's turn to look pale. Humans lived until their eighty-one? _Just eighty-one?_ Converting that to Sekai's, they weren't even a full adult yet. To say that it was sad was an understatement. But seeing how shaken Kise looked, Ryouji put up a face.

"Don't worry, we'll get you back before you can age." He said, trying his best to calm Kise down. But still, Ryouji didn't know what else to tell the boy. For a fact, getting Kise back was mostly reliant on his Otouto, who seemed as though he has no intention of doing so.

"Really?" Kise gazed at Ryouji with suspicious eyes. His tone was full of sarcasm. "Really?"

"We'll try." Not wanting this conversation to escalate into a question and answer session where he won't know how to respond, Ryouji took his leave. After he exited the room, Ryouji ordered Kibou to stay inside the room. He made up a lie that his 'Otouto' was paranoid that a Bakemono may attack him in his sleep.

When the guard did what he was told, Ryouji made his way to back to his room, but he couldn't sleep either. Thinking on their discussion, he wondered what his parents are going to do. If this "Kise Ryouta" will die at eighty-one, how are they going to get back Third Prince Ryouta?

"I can always ask later." He mumbled to himself. With that, he hopped into his bed and tried to sleep.

…

Kise woke due to the blaring alarm clock on the bedside table. He felt a bit groggy, probably because he had fallen asleep quite early in the morning. When he finally sat up in the bed, the alarm stopped.

Kise looked about the room for any signs of an alarm clock, but there was none.

"Then where did the sound come from?" Kise wondered. Swinging his feet off his bed and standing up, he heard a knock on his door.

"Your Highness!" Ken appeared through the small door on the left beside the main door. "Arisu-chan is here."

Kise was stumped. Who was "Arisu"?

"Ah, let her in."

Ken laughed. "Of course she has to come in. I was just letting you know that she's here. She's your maid after all."

As soon as Ken said this, she walked through his door, with a pleasant smile on her face. She was a young woman with lush black hair and was dressed in the standard maid uniform. However, she carried a small metal tray delicately and from where Kise was, he couldn't see what was on it.

Upon closer inspection, Kise noticed that it was a plain ring which was blue in colour. It then clicked to him that it was probably one of those inter-spatial rings that Ryouji and Ryouma told him about.

"Good morning, Your Highness." Arisu said with a small bow. "His Majesty told me to give you this."

Hesitantly, Kise took up the ring. Judging by the size of it, the blond knew it was fit for his thumb. Not wanting to arouse suspicions, he slid the ring onto his thumb and he felt a slight sting. It wasn't agonizing but there was a lingering discomfort.

"Ah, thank you." Kise said. "And good morning to you too. Are you alright?"

Arisu looked shocked. "Thank you. I'm fine."

"Good. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, breakfast will soon be served. Go freshen up and head into the dining room." Arisu said with a smile.

Kise only nodded his understanding and Arisu took her leave. But the problem remained; he couldn't find the dining area by himself. Ryouji had led him to it for dinner yesterday, but still, the palace was too huge. It'll take a while to get accustomed to this place. Returning to his bed, Kise pondered on last night. Ningen live for four hundred years and a twenty-one year old is still a child. In that aspect, it was understandable, living for that long would mean that people less than a hundred (roughly) are probably classed as children and teenagers. But, he won't live that long. It would have been nice, but seeing his family and friends age and die isn't something he'd be able to bear.

With a sigh, he headed into the bathroom to take a shower. Even though he's seen the bathroom yesterday, he still found it astounding. It was a walk-in shower with beige tiles that made Kise's eyes hurt.

From the ceiling to a couple inches down, the walls were painted in bright orange; along the right wall, two fluffy towels neatly hung from a golden mounted towel rack. Next to that was a white free standing bathroom cabinet. Across from that and on the left was a rack which housed classic terrycloth bathrobes. Kise let out a sigh of relief; they were white and not orange. Beside the bathrobes was a door and Kise thought that it led to the toilet. Next was a white mounted vanity below a huge ass mirror. Kise smiled upon seeing the mirror.

He walked towards the shower which was situated at the end of the room. There was tempered frosted glass at the shower but before the blond could reach, he fell. Looking around, he realized that he was in a floor tub, and it was slowly filling up with water. Kise attempted to climb out but, the water was warm and heavenly. Quickly, Kise resigned to the tub.

"I'll take a shower after I soak." He cooed.

…

After Kise was done, he exited the shower feeling like he was reborn. The water temperature was just right, and he felt that there was something in the bathrobe because it was so comfy that he didn't want to take it off.

He quickly changed into his clothes which was a simple a black v-neck t-shirt and black jeans and sneakers. He was surprised at all that a Prince would have such plain clothing in his closet, but later dismissed it as probably his "house clothing".

He left his room but didn't know the direction in which he should go. He wanted to ask either Ken or Kibou but he feared their reaction. After all, he was supposed to be the Prince; he should know his house by the back of his hand by now.

"Ryouta. Let's go." Kise jumped when he heard the voice and looked right into piercing green eyes. It was Ryouma. Was he there the entire time?

"H―Hai." He stuttered. He fell into step behind his elder brother, and he felt uneasy. He was more comfortable around Ryouji since the blond had a more bright personality. Currently, he's unable to understand Ryouma since he hasn't been around him like Ryouji.

"Hey, Ryouta."

"Yes?" Kise replied.

"What's Earth like?" Ryouma asked. His voice lacked the enthusiasm it needed when asking about something like this.

"It's…definitely not like here. I mean, our technology is nowhere up your level." Kise answered.

"Really?" Ryouma looked shocked. He had stopped walking and turned to look at Kise. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, we don't have spatial rings or humanoid robots who serve at cafés."

"Well, the inter-spatial devices are a given since it needs a little mana to work." Ryouma said. "And what do you mean by 'humanoid'?"

"I meant the robots that look like us." Kise said. He mentally slapped himself for forgetting that in Sekai, there is no such thing as 'Human' but 'Ningen'.

"Oh, you mean to say 'Ningenoid'." Ryouma chuckled. "But continue on your world."

"We do have a lot of recreational activities." Kise then perked. "We have manga, anime, but most importantly, sports!"

"Manga? Anime? Sports?" Ryouma was confused. "Please, do elaborate."

Kise smirked, "I will."

…

In the dining hall, almost all of the Royal Family was present. They were seated around the round dining table; everyone was immersed in their own conversation. On King Ryouhei's right and left were his brother Kouhei and his wife Queen Ritsuko. Beside the Queen was Kouhei's wife ―First Lady Kimiko and the two were engaged in a heated conversation which had them roaring with laughter many times. Kimiko was a beautiful woman with brown hair and red eyes.

Next to the females was Ryouji who was chatting away with two of Kouhei's sons ―Kousei and Kousuke. The latter two had blond hair like their father but only Kousei had the green eyes while Kousuke had red.

Three seats were empty which were for Kise, Ryouma and Kouhei's first son ―Kouen who had yet to arrive.

Just then, Kise and Ryouma entered the dining hall and seeing the two, Ryouji's eyebrows rose in shock. He knew that Kise hadn't been around Ryouma for long, but to see them chatting like they're best friends…Ryouji wanted to know to the secret.

The two took their seats, but their conversation stopped. Being around their other family members had prompted this. Soon, Kouen walked in with a sour look on his face, his red eyes had a glint of anger and his blond hair was partially covered by a cap. He greeted everyone after which he sat, and thus, breakfast was served.

Seeing the plated food, Kise wondered if his taste buds can handle it, but surprisingly, his plate was a rice bowl and looked very Japanese. Ryouji sent a wink to him, and here, Kise realized that Ryouji probably told the cook what to make for him. He was beginning his like his big brother. He wasn't going to let him starve.

After breakfast, the King brought Kise to another training room. This room was just as big as the last one he'd been to, or probably even bigger. Kise felt somewhat apprehensive as he was about to learn how to combat with the Spear from the King himself. And recalling what the guards had said last night, the Third Prince was a monster in that aspect.

"Don't worry, Ryouta." King Ryouhei said with a smile. "I'll be teaching you the basics this time."

"Okay," Kise responded with a nod. "It isn't going to be hard, right?"

King Ryouhei shrugged. "It all depends on how fast you learn."

Kise smirked. His copy ability will definitely come in handy. The King then stretched out his hand as though he was holding a staff or stick and immediately a huge spear materialized. It was a metallic silver but Kise noticed its size. Just the shaft was taller than the King; Kise didn't even look at the triangular head and its protrusions.

"Isn't that thing heavy?" Kise asked.

"Nope!" the King answered. "Now take out yours from the ring. All you have to do is will the spear out."

"I didn't even know that there was spear in this thing."

King Ryouhei sighed. "Listen to me. Swipe your hand at the air gently."

Kise followed the instructions and as he'd done so, a holographic projection appeared. He saw about two long spears like the King's, two smaller ones with shafts as long as a kitchen knife, and others that weren't as long as the long spears but instead a couple inches shorter. Apart from those, he saw there were two cellphones, one was his from Earth and the other one he surmised to be the one he'd use while here. There were other things there but he decided that he'd take a look at those later.

Following the posture that the King had, Kise tried to get the spear to materialize. It did, and the blond ace was relieved that it wasn't as difficult as he'd thought. However, that feeling was dashed as soon as his hand grasped the metal weapon.

Both Kise and the spear went tumbling to the floor.

"Are you alright?" King Ryouhei asked as he rushed to help him up onto his feet.

"Yeah, the spear is too heavy! How can I use that!?"

"It's heavy?" The King said as he took it up like a piece of paper. But he soon realized the reason. "Alright, use the two small ones then."

"Okay." Within a blink, the two spears materialized, and while they had weight, they were manageable. Seeing this, the King smiled and changed to the small spears as well.

"Now, let my lesson from hell begin!"

Kise swallowed the lump in his throat.

…

A silver car made its way towards a black iron gate that shone like fine oil in the sun. But before the gate could open, the driver of the car stopped by the security post and placed a card in the midst of the guard's hands. A blue light shone from inside the security post, and the card was returned to the driver.

The gate opened in a slow manner, but as the car was passing through, a greenish light glowed from beneath the ground, seeming to be scanning the vehicle. After the car was fully scanned, a ripple formed in the air before them, seeming like a curtain being parted.

"This is why I hate coming here, too many security measures." Yoshitaka groaned as he slumped into his seat. He was in the front passenger side of the car, while his father ―Moriyama Yoshitake was driving.

Seeing the older male, one could easily mistake Yoshitaka to be his father's brother instead. Everything was the same; they had the same short black with the slight green tint which was parted to the right. Their eyes were the same, small and narrow.

Behind them were three females, one of them being Kasamatsu Yukio. She was seated directly behind Yoshitaka, and this time, she was dressed in a black v-neck t-shirt and a white jeans shorts. She wore sneakers with black thigh high stockings. Around her neck was a golden chain with a beautiful pendant. She wore matching earrings and lip gloss.

The other female beside Yukio was Kuroko Tetsuya. Her beautiful light-blue hair was curled softly at the ends and done in the 'half up-half down hairstyle'. The left and right side of her hair was draped loosely back and was pinned at her nape, however, the right side was wrapped over the other.

She wore a white strapless high low dress with a blue floral hem to match her hair. She had on a white necklace and matching earring and shoes.

Beside Tetsuya was her childhood friend Ogiwara Shigehiro. The brunet had long but extremely curly hair done in a high pony tail to reveal her round face. She wore a striped grey sleeveless shirt underneath a jeans jacket and black jeans pants and matching sneakers. She also wore pearl earrings.

"I believe it's going to get worse, Yoshitaka." Yoshitake replied as he drove to the round-a-bout. "The Prince was still attacked in his room and they have this level of security, don't be surprised if the guards start checking DNA before anyone can come in." the older Moriyama joked. But even though it was such, they all knew that there was some probability to that statement.

In times past, there were two attempts on Ryouma and Ryouji when they were far younger but now that they've grown into monsters, many have targeted the Third Prince. Including this recent attack there has been three times that the Prince was almost kidnapped.

"That's going to be frightening." Shigehiro said.

"Indeed," Tetsuya agreed.

Soon, the car reached up the round-a-bout and the four teenagers exited in front of a large building. Walking through the doors, they had to have their identification cards and their spatial rings scanned before entering the courtyard.

After making it past that, they were finally in the courtyard and immediately two guards had rushed up towards them. However, due to the quartet coming to the palace frequently, they were no strangers.

Exchanging friendly greetings, the guards then led them further into the courtyard where there were numerous gazebos present.

The four sat, and not shortly after a maid appeared (via teleportation) and offered them refreshments. And yet again, since they were no strangers, the maid gave them exactly what they would eat and drink.

"I wonder what this Ryouta is like." Shigehiro said as she took a sip of her orange soda. "I hope he doesn't attempt to blow up the school."

"Well, that would be nice." Yoshitaka said. "But even though we've met once, he doesn't seem like that. I could be wrong." He bit into his bun-like food.

"Let's just wait and see." Tetsuya joined in.

"Agreed." Yukio said.

The four changed the topic of their conversation to a more serious topic like the reason behind the attack on the Prince. The four threw out ideas but they still couldn't come to a plausible conclusion.

After a couple minutes, a bright light appeared at the gazebo.

…

"What eyes do you have?" King Ryouhei asked in surprise. He was appalled that almost every move that he showed to the boy, he could reciprocate it with ease. It was the same with his son, but the King was sure that Kise's world didn't have these moves there; after all, people don't walk around with weapons all day long.

But with a single look, he got the moves down.

King Ryouhei nearly tore up in joy. That simply meant, after a while, Kise was able to become just as monstrous as his son was. And here he thought that Kise would have been a hard nut to crack.

Kise shrugged his shoulders, "The sharingan." He was somewhat numb and sore from that lesson but as destroyed as he thought he'd be.

"The shari-what?"

"Ignore me. I was just referring to an eye that was in fiction."

"Oh." The King said. "But don't think you're out of the woods yet. There are other complex moves left, and I have to teach you how to use the other spears at a later date."

"At a later date? I won't get strong enough to wield that thing." Kise said shaking his head. By now the spear was already returned to Kise's spatial ring.

King Ryouhei smiled. "Ritsu was planning to tell you after this, so you have to pretend that you never heard it from me. Mana is changing your body, so given enough time, though I'm not sure how long, you'll become like us, per say."

Kise blanched. "So, I'll end up living for four hundred years?"

"Yes, and by extent, you may end up being able to use magic of your own will."

Kise staggered back in shock. The very thing that he was afraid of is going to become his reality. Kise gave up. Hearing that shattered all hopes of ever going back home. How agonizing it will be see everyone dying and he's still living.

It's a nightmare.

 _Getting transported to another world shouldn't end in the protagonist's anguish like this!_ Kise nearly broke out in tears. And if his body was changing, then that meant this was irreversible.

"Ryouta?" The King called out upon seeing the state that the boy was in.

"I give up." Kise whimpered. He couldn't run, he couldn't hide, he couldn't do anything to escape from this nightmare. "I don't have a reason to live anymore. There're no anime, no manga, no basketball, nothing. And if by some chance you manage to get me home, I'm going to live for four hundred years. Friends and family will age and die and I'll still be around."

"I'm not going to say that everything's going to be alright. You're the Third Prince at the moment; there are many things you can get away with."

"Like…?"

"You have to tell me. If you want to do something, there's no one apart from me and Ritsu who are able to stop you. Which are unlikely to happen."

"Really?"

"Yup. But enough chit-chat, your friends are waiting."

"My friends?"

The King laughed. "My Ryou was a sociable little brat, you know? He's quite famous at school."

It was now Kise's turn to laugh. "Tell me something I don't know."

"You may fall in love."

"Eh?" but before Kise could ask another question, the King took hold of him and a bright light appeared at their feet. Within couple seconds, they were out in the courtyard, standing in front of a hardtop gazebo. There were three small steps leading into it, and the windows were tinted on the outside. The roof was somewhat reminiscent of a traditional Japanese roof.

 _Well, these people are basically Japanese._ Kise thought wryly.

"Yo!" King Ryouhei greeted with a smile.

"Ryouhei-sama!" the four greeted, getting up onto their feet.

"You may sit." The King then said as he and Kise walked to the seats. The two sat but one thing was on Kise's mind. Who was the brunet? He had already met Yoshitaka and Yukio but he's never seen the brunet-haired girl before.

"Hello, Ryouta-kun, you seem to be in a daze." A voice said, nearly making him jump out of his skin. Turning to look at who spoke, Kise knew exactly who it was.

That beautiful light blue hair. Those deadpanned sky-blue eyes.

Those could only belong to one person. "Kurokocchi?"

"Yes, I am. But don't call me 'Kurokocchi'. It's not cute, and the Prince didn't call me as such. He called me 'Tetsuya'."

Kise eyes brightened as he made a lunge for the girl. The King didn't stop him as he wondered what he was up to.

"Marry me, Tetsuya!"

The King nearly choked on his spit while the others spat out their beverages in shock.

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review!**_


	9. Getting in the Groove

_**A/N: Thanks to all those who favourited, followed and reviewed!**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

* * *

Chapter 9

 _Getting in the Groove_

…

Tetsuya was frozen in shock.

She couldn't believe what was taking place ―a replica of her friend from another world is asking her to marry him. So shocked she was that she couldn't even reply. Furthermore, because he was not the Ryouta that she knew, she couldn't bring herself to use her magic and send him flying fifty metres away.

"How shameless can you be?!" Shigehiro screeched, brandishing a green coloured whip. Tetsuya was snapped out of her thoughts at this moment. But when Tetsuya looked at Shigehiro, she looked as though she wanted to strangle Kise with her whip. "You've just met Tetsu and you're proposing?! You scoundrel!" Shigehiro continued.

"I'm not a scoundrel!" Kise shrieked in denial. "And I'm not shameless either!"

"Of course you are! Who proposes to a girl they've just met?!" Shigehiro pushed Tetsuya away from Kise and onto Yukio after which she grabbed him in his shirt.

"I may have just met her, but I was friends with Kurokocchi back home!" Kise made an attempt to grab her shirt as well, but restrained himself as he may end up grabbing her breasts. And…he didn't want to be the "accidental pervert" in this story. "Now let me go! Do you want to rip my shirt?!"

"I want to rip you limb from limb, that's what!"

Kise smirked. "Hoh? Bring it!" the blond raged.

Seeing how things may get nasty if he doesn't intervene, King Ryouhei pulled Kise away from Shigehiro.

"Now, now children," he started. "Play nice."

But, only Yukio and Yoshitaka noticed the smug look on the King's face. Turning, King Ryouhei dragged Kise out of the gazebo and said,

"You can't marry Tetsuya for free."

Kise was stumped. "For free? What?" _Is he marketing her or something?_

The King chuckled. "Let's say she agrees. Are you still going to go back to Earth?"

"Nope!" King Ryouhei's jaws dropped. He never expected that answer so quickly. Kise continued, "I'm going to live until four hundred anyway, and plus, this is a dream come true! Do you have any idea how agonizing it was that Kurokocchi was a male?!" he screeched. "And now, I've finally found a female version to him! There's no way I'm letting her go!"

 _She isn't even yours,_ the King blanched. Still, he couldn't help but laugh and pat Kise on his head. "You were bred well, a true Kise."

"Huh?"

"It's nothing."

Kise's face then became saddened. "But no matter what, I'll still want to see my family and friends and play some basketball. I can't just abandon that."

The King twitched. _Didn't you just say that you weren't going back to Earth?_ "Maybe we can work something out." King Ryouhei said with a shrug, beautifully concealing his emotions. "If Ryouji can talk to Ryouta through the magic circle, then…"

Spotting the grin on Kise's face made the King unable to finish his sentence. If only he knew what Kise was thinking…

…

From that day onwards, Kise's life became even more hectic than when he was on Earth and had modelling and basketball to do. Here, the blond ace had to learn many things about the Kingdom, but what he was instructed to pay keen attention to was the Prince's schoolwork.

For now at least.

 **Monday**

Waking up, Kise found out a frightening truth that nearly made him faint from the shock. The time difference between Sekai and Earth was staggering. Ryouji was the one who let him know this, as he recalled when he had spoken to the other Ryouta, he was in pyjamas while it was still daytime over here.

Sekai had a total of sixteen hours in a single day.

When Kise heard that, he wondered if Ryouji was pulling his leg. Throughout his time here, he didn't think that there were sixteen hours. If anything, the days were so damn long that they felt like an eternity. But then, the next bomb dropped.

One hour in Sekai had one hundred and fifty minutes.

Kise nearly died from the shock. When he tried to work out the math, it roughly meant that for every hour spent in Sekai, about two and a half hours passed on Earth. But that wasn't all; one day in Sekai had two thousand four hundred minutes (2,400), while Earth only had one thousand four hundred and forty (1,440). That meant, Sekai was like Earth but with thirty-three hours.

"Now this is what you call Time Zone Difference." Kise said.

After breakfast, Kise was hauled to the Library by Ryouma and there he was taught the History of Engineering. It was one of Prince Ryouta's subject areas; and surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as he'd thought. Engineering History was just reading about the history of technology, basically. What made it simpler was that some of the technology classed as "ancient" was present in modern-day Japan. Transportation such as aeroplanes and boats (cruise ships, ferries etc), were obsolete from God knows how long (hence the term "ancient") and were replaced by Teleportation circles.

Other forms of transport that were once present in this world were the typical carriages, steam locomotives (that were once prominent during Earth's Industrial Era), Trams etc. But these, after further refinement, gave birth to the current train system which when Kise inquired about it, found out that not even the Shinkansen could best.

After that, he'd have a break but he was viciously dragged to the training room by Ryouji. The older blond wanted to learn the roundhouse tornado kick, however, Kise decided just to teach him Martial Arts. He had a feeling that later on, Ryouji would pester him to learn another move anyway.

After that, he had to learn more about the geography of not only his Kingdom but the other countries as well. Yet again, Kise was amazed, but at the same time, relieved. While the entire continent was Japan, there were a few areas in each country that defied laws of nature and everything else which gave it the fantasy feel that he felt this world lacked.

There were large expanses of forests called the _Mizu Forest._ These were typically forests with a difference: their trees and grasses were completely water. When Kise saw the corresponding picture, he nearly choked on air. The Mizu Forest had trees, which had branches and leaves per say, but it were evident that they were made out of water. These trees were predominantly found in the Yousen Kingdom.

"Hmm, now you know who never has water shortage." Kise joked to himself.

With his interest piqued, Kise continued to read more about these "strange" landscapes and stumbled upon something even more ridiculous. In Rakuzan, there was a Savannah called the "Fiery Savannah". That area had rain, but, the "rain" is fire. Add to that, the flowers in that area had petals of blazing fire.

Kise paused.

Although he was interested, he decided to leave these landscapes for another day. This was from one extreme to the next, and it was damn scary.

 **Tuesday**

Kise had Spearmanship with the King, which was the only thing that he was looking forward to. While he was still using the Twin Spears, the blond ace found many ways to incorporate his Martial Arts. This made him quite the opponent, since people of this world had no Martial Arts due to Magic.

King Ryouhei was especially glad upon seeing how flexible and adaptable Kise was. When the King showed him videos of what the Prince looked like when he was in action, Kise could only look on in amazement. The Third Prince seemed like a natural whenever he wielded any of his Spears. His movements were so fluid and beautiful, that Kise thought that he was probably doing some ancient Spear dance.

Still, it didn't break Kise's spirit. If anything, Kise felt the need to better the Prince. It was almost as though he was treating this like basketball, the Prince was an opponent that he needed to overcome to win. With eyes ablaze, Kise absorbed everything the King threw at him like a sponge dipped in a bucket of water.

That said, Kise decided to become formidable.

 **Wednesday**

Kise thought that this day would have been just like the rest. However, it turned out to be a disaster.

This particular morning, Kise felt as though his head was on fire. He had woken up in the dead of the night, with a splitting headache. For the entire day yesterday he was fine, and he knew he hadn't received any head injury (King Ryouhei was extremely cautious).

With a groan, he turned on his side towards the bedside table and reached for his phone. Still, his arms were a bit weak, and the phone ended up falling to the ground. Luckily, an indignant Takeo (the cellphone's AI), materialized in his holography in an attempt voice his displeasure of falling to the floor.

But upon seeing the agonized look on Kise's face, he could tell that something was wrong with his owner. Quickly, the miniature AI sent a message to everyone in the contacts, which was limited to the two guards (Ken and Kibou), Ryouma, Ryouji and the King and Queen.

And within seconds, one of the small doors flew open and in came the two guards. Ken quickly checked Kise's temperature and with his element being Fire, he's able to discern when people are suffering from a fever.

"It's not a fever…" Ken said. He then turned to Kibou, "Go call someone. He looks like he's dying."

"Head…" Kise managed to groan out. "…on fire."

"You mean you have a headache?" Ken asked. In this moment, the main door flew open and Kise's new family flowed in with worried looks on their faces. When Ken told them what Kise had said, at first, they were all confused but Queen Ritsuko took swift action. She tried to soothe him with her water magic, Ryouji and Ryouma tried to keep him awake, King Ryouhei immediately wrote up a Teleportation circle to the hospital.

…

"He'll be fine." Doctor Ayane said. "But it's as Prof. Mashiro said, mana is changing him and the effects are starting to take root." The Kise family let out a sigh of relief.

"So, what's going to be next?" Ryouma asked.

"I can't be sure." Ayane answered with a shake of her head. "He's having these headaches because mana is changing his cognitive capabilities. I don't want to know how he'd react when the rest of his body starts changing as well."

"Oh shit." Ryouji said, covering his mouth in the process.

"Oh shit is right, Your Highness. But one thing I do know is that he won't die. These changes aren't life threatening. You can treat it as the flu or something. He'll be extremely sick, but rest assured, his life isn't in danger."

After that, the family took turns staying in Kise's hospital room as if on night watch.

 **Thursday**

Kise was back to normal, much to everyone's relief. But before he was discharged from the hospital, he was given two sheets of paper, both with math questions by Prof. Mashiro. He'd met Kise before, and this made the blond feel like he was experiencing déjà vu. This happened before when he had first arrived here. But upon receiving the papers, Kise frowned, and proceeded to do these questions. They were the same ones that he'd received prior, but within a flash, he was done.

When Mashiro took the papers, he grinned, and said only one word: "Correct."

But, they all seemed to have not noticed Kise's face.

He wasn't a dunce, but when it came onto math, there was no way he could do two sheets of papers so fast and got all the answers correct. He stared down at his hands in shock. Kise knew his hands weren't what he should be looking at. They had nothing to do with his processing ability, and he wondered just what would happened from here on out.

King Ryouhei had already briefed him that the longer he stayed here was the more he'd become like them, but to think that the changes were already in full swing. Thinking back, Kise realized that the reason behind his 'headache' was the fact that his brain's capabilities were changing. And judging from what he just did, it probably meant that he was ―need he say it, becoming 'smarter'.

Kise didn't know whether or not to be glad or start his fretting.

For one, the Ningen of Sekai weren't like Humans. Sure, they may have similar outward appearances, but God knows what's going on the inside. He had no idea what they're bones were made out of, because whenever he sees his new family in action, they could probably cause a light tremor in Japan with just a punch. All he knew was that these people were rock solid.

Does that mean he'll become 'rock solid' as well?

If that's the case, how will his body react? Will he have muscle aches or something? Kise shook his head to rid these thoughts because there wasn't a single soul that could answer them.

 **Friday**

Yet again, the King dragged Kise's ass to the training room after breakfast. The blond was actually mastering the Twin Short Spears at an alarming rate; add to that, his processing ability had increased. Without even realizing, Kise was becoming quite formidable in Spear Arts (at least with the short spears), and for once, he was being original. There were many times when he'd mix his spear moves with Martial Arts creating a new set of skills.

"He really is a Kise," King Ryouhei had mumbled to himself while wiping away a tear. "No matter which world or dimension, once a Kise, always a Kise." He even started to tear up. "He's beautiful. I can't wait to see in what ways he'll turn into a monster." The King shuddered with delight. "I really need to award his parents."

 **Saturday**

Unlike prior days, Kise's training on this day revolved around the use of Lightning & Thunder magic. While the blond still wasn't capable of casting magic of his own will, he was given another ring which he placed on his left index. This ring was not an inter-spatial device; instead, it contained magic spells that the Prince had known. And this made Kise have to study more as well. The magic spells were voice activated and would only respond to his voice.

As such, Kise has to learn the names of these spells and their uses. It was a pain in the ass since there were tons of them. Ryouma and Ryouji tried to help him in this aspect, but most of the time, they laughed at his misery.

…

Apart from all this, throughout this week, he found out that between his brothers and his eldest cousin Kouen, there was serious bad blood going on. Dinnertime was always the moment in which the three boys would hurl nasty insults at each other, and by extent, attack each other under the table with their elements (of course when their parents found out they were seriously reprimanded).

While the Kouen of Earth got along with Kise and his sisters, the blond ace still couldn't stand the man. And the Kouen of Sekai was even worse than his counterpart on Earth. Kise decided to make a mental note to steer clear of this one, as God knows what he'll do (or try to swindle).

Kise even met with Yukio and Yoshitaka a lot more, the two felt somewhat guilty for him being here. Yoshitaka was the one who failed to stop the Prince while Yukio was the one who opened the magic portal and told Ryouji to pull him through. Seeing this as an opportunity, Kise got them to help him with using the magic from the ring. Some spells were done smoothly, while some nearly caused the King to hack their heads off.

Still, Kise found his week in Sekai quite interesting.

 _xxxx_

 _On Earth…[while Kise was learning Engineering]_

Ryouta dedicated himself to learn more about basketball. And this time, it wasn't because he's impersonating Kaijou's ace, but he was genuinely fascinated with the sport. Since he had received a suspension, he had all the time in the world to get his skills to the passable stage.

Hakase had informed him that with their team's calibre, Inter-High Prelims should be manageable even if 'Kise' doesn't play. But the Prince had been adamant that he wanted to.

Even Hakase, Takeuchi welcomed him as their manager, assuming that he knew about the sport. The raven-haired boy was no stranger to the team, as Kise had often time hauled him to eat lunch with the team, external matches, and their practices without fail. Hakase was like a member of the team who just doesn't play the sport.

By Wednesday, Hakase made sure to study up about basketball's rules and learn the fundamental formations such a Zone Defence among others. He had even gone as far as to ask his older brother ―Masahiro who plays volleyball, for assistance. And as such, Hakase conducted a session to find out the speed and endurance of the regulars.

He found out that they were all fast, but Kobori, Hayakawa and Nakamura had the highest endurance, while Kasamatsu and Moriyama had the highest speeds. However, when he had reached Kise's house and tested Ryouta on these things, he nearly had a heart attack.

Not only was the Prince super fast, he had endurance with it. Seeing his results, Hakase had decided to test something out. He had been wondering for a while, ever since they went to Akihabara and the incident in the gym.

"Ryouta, what's the heaviest you can lift?"

"Hmm? I don't know." The Prince said innocently. "If I want to lift anything, I lift it."

Hakase sighed. "What's the heaviest thing you had lifted?"

"A fat Bakemono." He deadpanned. He then shivered, "It was fucking gross. I still have nightmares, you know?" He then mumbled.

"And how many pounds does it weigh? Just give an estimate." Hakase didn't want to hear _that_ story. Seeing the Prince's twisted face, he knew it was something unpleasant.

"I don't know." But the Prince picked up on what Hakase was doing or trying to find out. Ryouta then created a magic stepping stone and placed Hakase on it. Without a word, inhaling, Ryouta punched the ground and what happened next, Hakase truly felt like he was going into cardiac arrest.

The entire backyard had a massive crater within, and from the punch, Hakase could see that there were probably shockwaves too. Even their neighbours were screaming, thinking it was an earthquake.

"That's most of my strength." Ryouta said with a grin as he helped Hakase off the magic circle.

"Most? Not all?" Hakase felt a headache coming. "Are you even human?!"

"Of course not." Ryouta answered in a matter-of-factly. He then looked at the crater and said, "I couldn't use all because Daddy will kill me if the house ended up sinking. Or maybe as you said, the government comes for me and treat me like a lab rat."

"You beast." Hakase gawked. "But don't you think that Kise-san will still skin you when he sees his backyard like this?" He asked.

The Prince blinked. "Aliens had crashed here, and I fought them off."

Hakase twitched. "You think he'll believe that obvious lie?!"

"Hey, Sekai has Bakemono so don't be surprised if Earth has aliens."

"And it just so happened that in the 4.5 billion years that the Earth has been in existence, aliens chose to attack the house of Kise Ryouta that has a sixteen year old Prince from another world that can use magic." Hakase argued with an eye roll. "Wow, if you're going to lie, at least make it believable."

"What can I say, I'm attractive." Ryouta smirked while standing akimbo. "Even aliens find me irresistible."

Hakase was _not_ amused. "Quit the bullshitting. You've been reading too much manga."

"I'm not! And plus I―"

"Hai, hai." Hakase cut him off, pushing him into the house. The raven-haired boy never wanted to be seen by anyone in case suspicions should arise. Reaching into the living room, Hakase started up again, "When playing basketball, you'll have to reduce your strength and speed by a lot. And no magic."

"Obviously, I won't use magic. I'm not an idiot." Ryouta said with a hair flip. "But I'll try my best. I'll have to play a game first to see by how much I should restrain myself."

"Playing one game won't suffice. Some teams are fast, some teams aren't. You'll just have to adjust as you go along." Hakase said. "If I could get Aomine's speed then I could just let you use that as a limit. He's the fastest player I know."

"Aomine? As in Daiki?"

Hakase nodded. "You know him?"

"Not personally. But he's the Prince of the shitty country that tried to kidnap me when I was young."

Hakase could see the anger burning in the Prince's eyes. "Why do I get the feeling that in the Tournament you'll stress me out?"

"My dear Scientist," Ryouta cooed as he grabbed Hakase's chin. "As long as I don't see Daiki you should be fine."

"And if you do?"

Ryouta smirked evilly. "I'll be sure to fuck him up nicely."

It was then that Hakase realized that he'd _have_ to tell Kasamatsu and others this. He's in dire need of a "Prince Ryouta Countermeasures Team".

…

The rest of the week continued without incident, but of course, both Ryouhei and Ritsuko were pissed at what happened to their backyard. But, they couldn't punish the Prince, nor was it Hakase's fault.

One day, Ryouhei had gotten a call from Kise's manager, indicating that he has a photoshoot on Friday. However, Ryouhei lied stating that his son was sick and suffering an illness which he didn't name. There's no way he'd let a catastrophe happen a second time.

That day, when Ryouhei reached home, he wasted no time in telling the Prince about Kise's work. But his reaction stunned the older Kise.

"Yeah. I can handle it. I've done it once before."

Here, Ryouhei was appalled as he never expected a Prince (especially one as feisty as Ryouta) to have been a model. He inquired about it, wanting to know how it came to be.

"Daddy gave me my allowance but I wanted to buy some chemicals to experiment. Their totalled cost was more than my allowance, so I had to find a work to make up the difference."

Yet again, Ryouhei gaped in shock. He couldn't resist asking, "Don't Princes get whatever they want?"

"Not in my Kingdom. Daddy treats us like how a normal commoner family would. We can't be spoilt and take taxpayers money for granted."

"Wow," Ryouhei was surprised at the King's thinking. And looking at Ryouta, it was clear that he wasn't unhappy about it. If anything, he took it normally. With that out of the way, Ryouhei then informed him that these's modelling jobs will be coming in more often starting next week, since he lied about "Kise-kun" being sick.

On Friday, Hakase brought home the regulars of Kaijou. They've wanted to visit the blond from Monday, but due to circumstances, they couldn't. Hakase made sure to prep them before they entered the house, as the Prince was as unpredictable as rain.

However, as soon as they entered the house, there was Ryouta, sitting in the sofa with his legs crossed and arms folded.

"You're late Mahiro." He said, sounding like a mother whose child returned after curfew.

"I had to get the team together." Hakase said as he took a seat beside the blond. When the regulars came into full view, the Prince stared at Hayakawa and Nakamura for the longest while.

"Is there something on our faces?" Nakamura ended up asking after getting irritated by his staring.

"You're Shinya-senpai, right?" Ryouta asked.

"Yes I am. And who told you it was okay to call me by my given name?"

The Prince smirked. "You'll see soon enough." He then turned to Hayakawa. "Who are you?"

That said, everyone's jaws dropped. Even Hayakawa was so shocked that he couldn't even say a word.

"Kise, it's Hayakawa…you don't remember him?" Kasamatsu said in shock.

" _That's_ Mitsuhiro-senpai!?" Ryouta screeched in horror. "What the hell happened to your eyebrows?!"

"Huh?"

"Mitsuhiro-senpai is quite the proper lady, you know? One thing, her eyebrows are always perfectly done." Ryouta ended up blurting.

"EEEHHHH?!"

"Guys, please don't drink anything or eat anything while we tell you the story." Hakase said calmly as though Ryouta hadn't said something strange not too long ago.

So, with that said, Hakase and Ryouta explained their predicament in great detail, and using his magic as backing evidence, it further made their story more believable. The faces of the regulars switched from horror to worry, shock to disbelief, everything one could think of.

"So what are we going to do about basketball?" Moriyama asked.

"No need to worry, Moriyama-senpai," Ryouta said. He clicked his tongue afterwards as calling the shooting guard by his surname was unnatural for him. "I'm learning. By the time the real Inter-High, no one will know the discrepancy between me and your ace."

"Your attitude will be the discrepancy." Hakase deadpanned.

"You just _love_ to burst my bubble, don't you?"

Hakase smirked. But the raven-haired turned to the team, "Really, believe me, he'll be able to play basketball. He's been watching videos."

"How about a round right now?" Kobori asked. "I can teach him a thing or two. Relying solely on videos can only bring him so far."

"I don't have a basketball. I broke the other one." Ryouta said.

The regulars were confused at this. Basketballs are durable balls, how do one _break_ it? Deciding not to ask, Kasamatsu got into the seriousness of the matter. Without hitch, the captain was drawing up teaching schedules. Kise was a small forward, a position which is the most versatile. That meant, the Prince would have to be able to sink threes as effortlessly like Nakamura and Moriyama, he should be able to defend like Kobori, and orchestrate plays like Kasamatsu and get them rebounds like Hayakawa (although no one could best him).

"Who do you take me for? I'll do it. And I'll rock the gym while I'm at it." Ryouta said with a grin.

"Wait, isn't this cheating?" Hayakawa asked. Since he wasn't excited his words have formed quite clearly. "He's from another world, and can use magic."

"It isn't." Ryouta answered. "I'm Kise Ryouta, a first year student. That's not a lie, right?"

"But won't it be unfair to the other teams?" Kobori asked.

"Isn't it unfair that some people are rich and some are poor?" The Prince said. "No one cares about that, now do they? Now let's just get on with our lives and play basketball. It won't be cheating if I play like your Kise would, right?"

"And plus, those Generation of Miracles have superpowers. That's unfair enough." Kasamatsu said with folded arms. "We're not cheating."

"That's my Yukio-senpai!" Ryouta chirped with a bright smile. "So what will you be teaching me?! I'm so excited!" he squealed in delight. Hakase looked at him and shook his head. Sometimes, the Prince really was like his best friend.

"Calm down, let's take this position by position." Nakamura said, he could literally see the happiness oozing out of the blond's body. Ryouta didn't respond, instead, he looked at Nakamura as though he wanted to bore into his soul. "What is it?!" the ash-blond roared.

"The Shinya-senpai I know is a girl." Ryouta replied, stunting the regulars yet again. "Seeing her as a male right now is somewhat strange."

"Wha…?"

"I have a picture of everyone, don't worry." With that, Ryouta took out his phone and showed the team their female counterparts. This action properly sent the entire team into disorientation. Moriyama was the only one who was said that none of these boys were born as females. He kept mumbling that it was a waste.

"Let's get back our plan." Hakase said, trying to get them back to reality. But, it fell on deaf ears. With a sigh, Hakase decided to head to the kitchen to get something for them to eat. He somewhat understood their reactions, as if he was told that back in Sekai he was a hot female, he'd probably lose it too.

Pushing that thought aside, he was more worried about Inter-High. There were many nasty players out there which specialized in provocation and cheating…if the Prince comes in contact with any of those, all hell will break loose.

"Let's just hope that Ryouta will not meet any of them, or in case he does, he restrains himself."

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review!**_


	10. The Wounded Prince

_**A/N: Thanks to all those who reviewed, followed and faved!**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

* * *

Chapter 10

 _The Wounded Prince._

…

 _[While Kise was learning how to use magic]…_

The next week rolled around and finally, Ryouta was back in school. However, it was a Tuesday since he got suspended on a Monday. This time, the moment both he and Hakase stepped out of Ryouhei's car, he plugged in his earphones but played no music. His face was deadpan, devoid of any expression. Looking at his face, students saw Ryouta as unapproachable and wondered what the cause of it was. Everyone in Kaijou knew just how bubbly the blond was, so to see him like this was a shocking surprise.

When he had entered his classroom, he wore a sour face, and not one of Kise's fans asked the boy what was wrong. Hakase laughed at this, but being around Ryouta, he could tell that the boy was inwardly happy.

"What class do we have first?" Ryouta asked Hakase, taking him out of his thoughts.

"Umm, English." Hakase replied.

"Okay," the Prince frowned and sank in his seat.

"You look sad, is everything alright?" Hakase asked. Since school hasn't started yet, so they were sitting side-by-side.

"I just miss duelling other students with magic and weaponry."

Hakase burst with laughter. "By the way, what's your school like?"

"Hmm, school is compulsory. That's one." Ryouta said. "Second, we have four stages of school so to speak ― _Shogakkō, Chuugakkō, Kōtō Gakkō_ and _Daigaku._ My school is called _Kaijou Kōtō Gakkō_ and it's pretty large. Well, almost every school centred on the Defense Force is massive. Also, it's the umm…" Ryouta trailed off, thinking of the right words to use. "…the high school division of _Kaijou Daigaku_ or university in your case."

"Oh, we have those schools here as well."

"Oh, I see." Ryouta nodded. "Anyway, school is divided into roughly three sections ― _Magic, Chevalier, Science & Technology._" Ryouta explained. "Magic and Sci-Tech are self-explanatory; Chevalier is where we learn how to use our weapons and such."

"No they're not. What do you do in these divisions?"

Ryouta sighed and rolled his eyes. "Magic, we learn how to control our Mana and magic. We also learn magic creation where we basically create our own magic spells, however, that's for third years and up. We only learn the theory and not put it in practice. We learn magic spell recognition and learn how to counter them. That's for when we encounter enemies that use certain magic that isn't in our Kingdom."

"That's cool. But each country has their own set of magic spells?"

"No not really." Ryouta denied. "It's just that a country may develop a new spell or something."

"Oh."

"Alright, in Chevalier, we mostly learn how to use weapons and strategize. Each person has a 'weapon class' and Geography as compulsory subjects, and for me, I have Military tactics, military strategies, and tactical formation. Don't ask me about others, I don't know."

"That sounds like a lot. Isn't that too much?"

"Nope! It's actually fun."

"How is school fun?"

"You get to bust people's ass in practical exams; depending on the club you join, you get to create weapons and highly destructive magic spells. And you get to plan sieges on other clubs."

"Really?" Hakase asked. "But what do you mean by 'weapon class'?"

"There are a various weapons that people use to battle. So the school groups them into classes and have a teacher that specializes in that weapon. For me, I'll have Spear class, Ryouji ―my second older brother, will have Whip and Ryouma ―even though he's in Daigaku, has Archery and Staff."

"Why does Ryouma have two?"

Ryouta blinked at Hakase as though he was an idiot. "It's compulsory for Archers to have a close-range secondary weapon. Can't have a glass cannon, now can we? Apart from that, students can learn to use more than one weapon, we aren't restricted, you know?"

"Wow, so you can choose whatever you want to do?"

"Yup! Even though I belong to the Chevalier division, I have classes in Magic and one in Sci-Tech."

"Wow, I'd like to visit your school."

Ryouta grinned. "It can be arranged."

"How?!"

"I won't tell you." Ryouta said with a smile. But of course, there was more to that. The Prince was sure that if he brought Hakase over there, his father would lock him up and send away the other Ryouta and Hakase back to Earth. There's no way he's giving up his freedom just yet.

Plus, if Hakase should enter Sekai, Ryouta wouldn't want Hakase to experience what happened to Earth's Kise. He'd have to probably get a Regular and then again, acquiring one of those would be difficult.

A couple more minutes and the bell rang, signalling the start of the school day.

…

After school, Ryouta and Hakase made their way to the gym. Inter-High Preliminaries have started, and Kaijou was going to play their first match today. Ryouta was ecstatic and couldn't wait to step foot on the court. Practicing with the regulars was fun, but he wanted to play in official games.

Travelling for thirty minutes, the Blue Elites finally made their way to the gymnasium. Entering their locker room, Hakase once more went through the game plan that he and Kasamatsu had thought up. But, Takeuchi had said something that nearly made the Prince explode.

"Kise, you won't be playing in this match."

"Why not?!" the Prince screeched in horror.

"There isn't a need to. I'm preserving you for when we play the stronger teams."

"You're joking right?! I don't need to be preserved! I won't burn out!"

"Kise," Takeuchi said, in a serious tone.

"Don't 'Kise' me you old ―" Ryouta stopped abruptly as a hand covered his mouth.

"Coach, Ryouta has been restless due to his suspension. Let him play in the first quarter to de-stress himself, please?" Hakase said calmly. "I know him the best, so the more pent-up he is, the more he'll likely lash out and destroy everything in sight." The last part of that sentence was all too true.

Listening to the reasoning, Takeuchi gave in. "Alright, but just the first quarter."

Hakase and the rest of the regulars heaved a relief. Whilst the regulars didn't know _exactly_ how destructive the Prince can be, they wouldn't want to find out personally. Hakase had already witnessed firsthand how monstrous the boy could get.

Hakase then shot the Prince a warning glare and immediately the boy sat on the bench and said nothing. Hakase had already threatened him that if he didn't behave himself, they won't be going to Akihabara and he won't be cooking for him. Ever. Ryouta actually agreed and decided that it's best that he keeps his mouth shut.

"I'm going for a breather." The Prince then said, getting up off the bench. "Mahiro, could you come with me?"

The two boys left the room and walked down the hallway. Ryouta had no idea where he was going, but luckily, Hakase stopped them before they got lost.

"Mahiro, do you want back your best friend?"

"Yes, I do." Hakase said without hitch. Ryouta froze. "I mean, you can't erase thirteen years of friendship like that. But, I'd like to know you as well. You're really amusing, albeit frightening sometimes."

The Prince almost tore up. "I love you Mahiro!" he screeched as he made a lunge for the teen.

Not knowing how to respond, Hakase returned the hug and rubbed his back. "Thanks." But then he wondered about the Prince's friends. "Don't you have friends who might miss you?"

"Hmm," Ryouta tapped his chin. "Yeah, I do. But they'll see it more of a 'relief' than actual 'miss'. I'm quite the terror, you know?"

"Wow, shouldn't you be ashamed?"

"I should?"

With a sigh, Hakase glanced at his watch and such, they returned to the locker room since it was almost time to head out to the court. When they returned, the entire team headed to the court, and changed into their jerseys. The other team came out as well, and seeing them, the Prince got even more excited.

After warming up, the regulars of each team assembled at the centre circle after which they bowed at each other. Ryouta reacted later than everyone else, since he was not accustomed to this. Kaijou's starters were the standard.

They were facing Yokohama Gakuen, a team dressed in mostly white.

Kobori and Four jumped for the tip-off, and luckily, Kobori managed to get it to Kasamatsu. The point guard dribbled towards the net until the other players got into their positions. Hayakawa was the furthest away and the closest to the net in case of a rebound, followed by Moriyama who was close to the three point line. Ryouta was at the same position as Moriyama, Kobori was in the paint, Kasamatsu was at the top-of-the-circle.

Ryouta had an eager look on his face, but as soon as Kasamatsu thought about passing the ball to the blond, two big defenders surrounded him. The Prince looked distraught.

"Umm, can you back off a little bit? You're too close." Ryouta said, twisting his face in disgust. "I'm claustrophobic."

Eight and Nine looked confused. Whilst they've never met Kise Ryouta before, hearing him now, erased all previous preconceptions of him. While he was a monster in basketball, it seems like he was an eccentric. Who asks a double team to step back because they're claustrophobic?

"We can't do that." Eight answered with a smirk.

"Why not? Why are you so unreasonable? You're too close to me!"

 _Is he an idiot or what?_ Was the unison thought of both Eight and Nine. Kasamatsu and those who were near that heard the conversation couldn't help but gawk. Kise Ryouta was one of the best of players in the sport, what's with this attitude?

Just then, Ryouta moved to the left, they blocked him. He moved to the right, it was the same thing. But he smiled. He had learned this tactic from Hakase, and soon, Ryouta managed to break away from his two defenders and headed towards the net.

By this time, Kasamatsu had long passed the ball to Hayakawa who had passed it to Moriyama. The shooting guard was taking his shot. Seeing the ball head into the hoop, the Prince was heartbroken.

"I wanted to make a shot too." He whined loudly. He then scrounged up his face while his hands shook, looking like a child who was about to burst into a tantrum.

"C-C-Calm down!" Kobori stuttered. "Next time, you'll make the shot, alright?" he said frantically to calm the boy. Meanwhile on the bench, Hakase gripped his chest. He was quite relieved that Kobori acted quickly.

"Okay!" He perked and skipped off merrily towards his court to help with defense. Kasamatsu raked a hand through his hair. That boy was like a ticking bomb.

While Kaijou was making their way back, Eight quickly took the ball and threw it to Seven. The point guard dribbled until he encountered Kasamatsu. He made attempt to pass the captain, but failed. His attempts continued to end in failure and he was beginning to get frustrated.

Seeing this unfold, Ryouta was amazed.

It seems that no matter the dimension or world, Kasamatsu Yukio would always be amazing. He then saw Seven pass the ball to Four via an overhead pass. Four then dashed towards the net; however, he was stopped by Kobori.

In that instant, Five had broken away from Hayakawa and headed into Four's direction. By the time Four passed the ball to Five, Ryouta intercepted the pass and dashed off towards Yokohama's net.

He laughed out loud at his act, although he was happy that the ball was finally in his hand. Thundering towards the net, Ryouta was chased by Yokohama's players. Kaijou followed suit as well, but they weren't worried about the ball getting stolen, they more worried that the Prince forgot to restrain himself and tear off the hoop from the backboard.

On that note, Ryouta thought to himself that maybe he was moving too fast and decided to slow down. That very moment, Eight and Nine tried to stop him but the Prince only smirked.

Pausing for a moment, Ryouta straightened before leaning forwards again. Then, a loud dribble sounded and within a flash, he used a crossover to evade his defenders. Finally reaching the net, Ryouta jumped to make a dunk (Kobori taught him that), but Yokohama's players were persistent.

Nine jumped for the block but with Ryouta's strength, he was sent crashing to the floor. Jumping down from the net, Ryouta turned to face his team with sparkling eyes.

"Did you see that?!" he chirped. "I made a dunk!" He then turned to face Hakase. "Mahiro~! I made a dunk!"

"Good job, Ryouta!" he gave him a thumb's up.

However, Yokohama's players, Takeuchi and the other bench players were getting even more confused. Everyone knows that Kise was a prodigious player. This behaviour was extremely strange. If they didn't know better, they would have thought that Kaijou's blond ace was playing his first ever basketball match.

"What's happened to Kise?" Takeuchi asked in shock. "Why's he so…?"

"He's having an episode." Nakamura deadpanned.

"An episode?" The coach was falling deeper into confusion. Just then, they heard the other players scream out. Focusing back to the match, they saw Eight tried to make a shot but it was blocked by Ryouta. The Prince viciously slammed the ball into the ground which left a small dent in the floor.

Kaijou were the only ones who noticed this, so quickly, Kasamatsu snatched it up and headed towards the net to take their eyes off it. Ryouta lagged behind the others as he thought that if he were to catch it, it'll draw attention. After all, he was taking Hakase's words seriously.

When everyone was in Yokohama's court, Ryouta stopped behind Kasamatsu, not knowing what to do. He still didn't know all there is to about basketball, but he wasn't going to go further. He didn't want to get double-teamed again. It was disgusting.

"Are you up for another round?" Kasamatsu smirked to him. "Go on; show them what the ace of Kaijou can do." He said as he passed the ball to the blond.

"Un!" With a nod, Ryouta grabbed the ball and dashed off once more. Erupting with happiness, he stormed towards the paint area. Yet again, defenders came to block the blond, but this time it was Seven and Four.

"We're not letting you go, blondie." Four said with a determined look on his face.

Ryouta paused and trembled. His face took on a mortified expression and the ball was released from his grip. Seeing the sudden change in attitude, Hakase stood up with worry.

"What's wrong Hakase?" Takeuchi asked, he had drawn the attention of the bench.

"My Ryouta senses are tingling again." He said with a sweat-drop. "Coach, we have to sub him off, right now."

"Huh? Why?" He asked. But Ryouta's actions answered his question. Seven took the ball and ran away from Ryouta but then the blond collapsed on his fours and was trembling even more.

Not caring that Yokohama were closing in, Kaijou's players dashed to Ryouta instead, worried about the blond. The referee was quick to act, calling for a timeout. He too had rushed over to the panicking blond, Hakase came after.

But Ryouta felt like he was reliving a nightmare. The world around seemed to be spiralling into a dark abyss of water, and he suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe. Although the others around him were calling his name, he covered his ears to tune them out. It was driving him insane. But there was one thing that continued to ring in his ear.

 _We're not letting you go, blondie._

The moment he closed his eyes, he remembered his horrid past. That shitting nightmare. Unable to cope with these repressed feelings, his magic was slowly getting out of control. There were faint traces of lightning crackling around his body, and those that were gathered around him (especially the referee and Takeuchi and Kaijou's bench players had to rub their eyes, thinking that they were hallucinating.

However, Hakase and the regulators didn't hitch.

Hakase and Kobori motioned to pick up the panicking boy, but that's when it happened. The floor glowed a dazzling light, and afterwards, massive lightning bolts shot upwards.

Seeing this terror, the few who came to watch the match ran away in horror and fright, as a matter of fact, everyone did. The roof was caving in due to it being destroyed; no one could see the floor due to the brightness of the yellow bolts. Those that were around the blond Prince fretted for their life, as some had been grazed and electrocuted by the lightning.

Amidst the chaos, Hakase, with his voice laced with fear, tried to calm down the Prince.

"R-Ryouta," He said with a stutter. But he heard Ryouta mumbled almost in a whimper.

"Save me, someone…save me."

Hakase froze for a second. There's no way this could be same fearless and imposing Prince that he knew. Trying not to touch any of the pillars of lightning, Hakase bent down to look the Prince in the eye and what he saw shocked him.

Ryouta was crying.

He looked so hurt, so _wounded_ that Hakase nearly started to cry too. But gathering himself, he had to wake up the blond boy. Not for himself but for everyone else who had been caught up in this.

"Ryouta." He called. But the Prince didn't budge, instead, the lightning intensified. Having no time to waste, or energy, Hakase grabbed the Prince under his chin, although the lightning on his body burnt him. After they made eye-contact, Hakase slapped him across the face. "Wake the hell up!" he shouted. "You said you needed someone to save you, right? Well, I'm right here." He smiled.

With trembling lips, Ryouta lunged at Hakase with tears streaming down his face. The lightning was gone from his body and the bolts around the court were slowly dissipating.

When they were completely faded, Hakase looked around the gym to see it vacant, albeit for the players on the court. Kaijou and Yokohama were in somewhat funny positions, most of them crouching down and covering their faces, while someone from Yokohama's team had fainted in this mess.

The smooth and pristine court was now filled with so many holes that it resembled cheese, the roof, likewise. There were a few burn marks in the stands as well, and some of the players had either burnt their shoulders, their legs or some other parts of their body. But luckily no one died.

Standing up, Hakase moved with the Prince to the locker room, knowing that in a situation such as this, everyone will most likely head for the outside. Once there, Hakase didn't hesitate,

"Ryouta, what happened?"

"I…remembered something…" he replied in between sniffs. "Something…that may haunt me…forever…"

"Haunt? What?"

"I was kidnapped when I was ten." Ryouta started. "Someone had a grudge against my father for something that not even I knew about. They locked me in a water dungeon so as to negate my lightning. For five days, I was tortured and I'm not going to tell you what they did to me. Because they didn't know my name, they had to refer to me as 'blondie'. What the Yokohama player said to me, was the exact same thing my kidnappers told me over and over." The Prince shivered. "I tried to bury it in the recesses of my mind…guess I just broke at that moment."

Hakase almost ended up crying as well. To think that the Prince was actually damaged to this extent…and at such a young age no less. He finally understood why Ryouta was so explosive sometimes and short-tempered. Five days is pretty long in Sekai, he remembered that one hour had one hundred and fifty minutes. Hakase's heart felt like it moved out of place. This was a wound that was so deep that it'll never go away, no matter how hard one tried.

Without a word (not like he could say anything to alleviate the situation), Hakase embraced the Prince. It was full of comfort, and warmth. The Prince broke down even further, his tears soaking Hakase's shirt. The raven-haired teen rubbed the Prince's back although it hurt due to his hands being burnt.

And for what seemed like an eternity, Hakase comforted Ryouta as best as he could. Eventually, though, the blond cried himself to sleep.

…

Outside was a mess. Police and fire-fighters and ambulances had arrived; police trying to get information on what happened, fire-fighters entering the building to get out anyone that may be trapped, ambulances tending to those who were injured.

Takeuchi didn't need to do a head count to know who was missing. Ryouta's obnoxiously blond hair was nowhere to be seen, and of course, their newly acquired manager with the ridiculously curly hair. Looking at his boys, he could see that they were shaken, hell, everyone who was inside that gym was.

But the coach didn't have the slightest idea where the lightning could have come from. He refused to believe his eyes when he saw electricity crackling around Ryouta's body, as there's no way a human being could channel electricity.

Some minutes later, two fire-fighters had emerged with Ryouta and Hakase. The blond's eyes were puffy and red, but he looked like he just woke up. Hakase looked ragged and haggard, seeming as though he was coming from an intensive training camp.

They were both ushered to an ambulance to get treated, but of course, Ryouta didn't need any, only Hakase. A nurse attended to his palms and tried her best to ignore their conversation ―Ryouta was constantly saying sorry to Hakase, while the latter was reassuring the former that it wasn't his fault.

After everything was said and done, the match was postponed until further notice.

…

"Ryouta, if you don't mind me asking," Hakase said, "Did you receive counselling?"

"Yeah, I did. Until I was fifteen." Ryouta answered looking through the window. Currently, the two boys were sitting in a train, heading home.

"Oh, what did your dad do?"

"It was a small island nation that took me, so Daddy destroyed it." Ryouta said with supreme nonchalance.

"Destroyed? In what way? Politically? Financially?"

"Physically," he answered. "Daddy wiped out the entire nation. The landscape was charred into black ashes, and such. Mom and General Aida used their Water and Earth magic to submerge the land in case anyone (which was highly unlikely) escaped from Daddy's wrath."

Hakase trembled. That meant, should anything happen to the Prince over here and the King found out, then everyone can kiss Japan goodbye.

"That's scary."

"Very. Daddy also got the nickname 'Hell-bringer' from it."

Hakase paled. "I can imagine."

Just then, the Prince perked up, "So what's for dinner?"

Hakase gave Ryouta an incredulous look and showed him his bandaged hands. "I'm the one who should be asking you that!"

"Oh. Then you tell me what to do and I'll cook it."

Hakase sighed. "I'll just order take-out or something."

"Mahiro~" Ryouta whined.

"Fine, fine." The teen dark haired teen succumbed. "Just make sure you follow my instructions perfectly."

"That's my precious housewife!"

However, Hakase didn't have the energy to counter, so he let it slide just this once.

Meanwhile, the other passengers who were nearby could only look on the two boys with surprise.

* * *

 _ **Thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review!**_


	11. First Day at Kaijou Kōtōgakkō

_**A/N: Thank you for all your reviews, faves and follows!**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

 **Kōtōgakkō** \- High School

 **Daigaku** \- University

* * *

Chapter 11

 _First Day at Kaijou Kōtōgakkō_

…

The drive to school was noisy as Kise chatted with both Ryouma and Ryouji about Earth. Although Jin was their designated driver, King Ryouhei decided to drive them this time to have Kise loosen up. He knew that if it were Jin here, the blond from Earth wouldn't have been able to relax as he'd want to ask certain questions but couldn't.

Even though he had informed the entire Palace Staff that "Prince" Ryouta was suffering from mild amnesia due to an attack that the creature had used, he was still worried that Kise may say or do something unknowingly that will bring him trouble.

Soon, they neared a bridge and on the other side of it was their school. Both the Kōtōgakkō and Daigaku were located on the same campus; essentially, there were not much separation from the two divisions. Since the schools had three major departments ―Magic, Chevalier, Science & Technology, administration felt that there was no need to separate the two.

As King Ryouhei drove over the bridge, Kise could see the numerous amounts of students in their different colours heading to school. Since the school had three departments, each department was assigned a colour ―Magic was Royal Blue, Chevalier was Red, Science was Green and Technology was Purple.

That said, both Kise and Ryouma wore a red blazer over a white shirt with a red tie and blue and purple tie clips. Their jeans pants were black, and their sneakers were red converses. Ryouji was the only one in a royal blue blazer and tie, but his tie clips were red and purple. Like Kise and Ryouma, he wore black jeans and converses as well, but his were blue and white to match his blazer.

At first, Kise had been sceptical about the sneakers and jeans but his brothers reassured him that the school had a very lax uniform policy. That was further backed by the King who had showed him what both he and his brother (Prime Minister Kise Kouhei) looked like in their days. Leaving it at that, Kise decided to go with the flow. But then his mind ran on Earth…He wondered just what kind of mischief the Prince was up to, and how damaged his reputation had gotten.

Driving into the schoolyard, Ryouma and Ryouji's expressions changed to a much relaxed and calm look. King Ryouhei pulled up at the round-a-bout, and the three boys stepped out. Immediately, Kise's ears were assaulted with feminine cries and shrieks.

"Hello, ladies." Ryouji and Ryouma said with suave. King Ryouhei had driven off, as he didn't have time to linger. But Kise was bewildered. He knew that the Princes' identities weren't known at school (and by extent, the entire Kingdom), so what's with this reception? Were they actually school celebrities, regardless?

"Ah, we're known as the 'Holy Trinity'." Ryouma whispered as though he could read Kise's mind. They walked towards the building with the Entrance Barrier Turnstiles. Placing their ID cards on the scanner, the three boys passed through and entered the schoolyard. The first time Kise was told about this feature, he had wondered if it was because the Royal Family had always attended this school, but Ryouma had denied it. Every school in the Kaijou Kingdom had this feature, as a matter of fact; Yotsuka Kōtōgakkō had to endure full body scans.

"Holy Trinity? Is this a fantasy game or something?" Kise snorted, referring to the name that a typical party in RPGs is called.

"It's because we look amazing and get amazing grades." Ryouji deadpanned.

"And we're actually friendly. We don't bite." Ryouma added. "Well, except you."

"Eh?!" Kise screeched. All eyes darted towards their direction.

"You're out of character." Ryouma hissed in a whisper. "Otouto is really serious at school. He hates fangirls so they gush about him from a distance."

"Oh, I see." Somehow Kise was relieved about this. At least here he wouldn't need to avoid large crowds of screaming girls. _I wonder how the Prince is managing my fangirls?_ But he quickly dismissed the thought as an image of the enraged Prince flashed into his mind. _I probably don't have any fans anymore._

They continued down the corridor until a road came into view. Across the street, there were buildings painted in beige-like colour, and were arranged in a pattern. A large dusty field was set in between two sets of identical buildings. They were three storey buildings with an adjoining corridor to another two storey one.

"What's that field doing there?" Kise asked. "And what are those buildings?"

"That's a duelling field. If two students have an argument, they go there and bust each other's ass until they're content." Ryouji said. "No killing is allowed of course."

"The two sets of buildings are the form-rooms for students of Kōkō and Daigaku. Instead of having Kōkō and Daigaku on two separate campuses, everything we do is grouped together. But Daigaku and Kōkō have their own buildings."

Kise roughly understood but there was something that wasn't clear. "Kōkō?"

"Short for Kōtōgakkō." Ryouji replied. "No one has the time to say that long ass thing."

"Oh."

As the three crossed the road, they walked briskly to their classrooms, waving to the girls who called out to them. Kise didn't, as he was trying to act like the Prince. That and, he really needed a break from screaming fangirls.

Ryouma then parted from Kise and Ryouji since he was in Daigaku, final year. Ryouji and Kise entered the shoe locker area, and it was there that the blond ace met Shigehiro yet again. She was dressed in her uniform ―red blazer and tie, white shirt and black pleated skirt.

"It's not nice to keep a young lady waiting, you know?" Shigehiro said, folding her arms in the process.

"Come on, Shige," Ryouji softened up. "It's not like we can drive ourselves to school. Papa was the one who brought us."

"I see." She didn't seem fazed, but her face was slightly relaxed. "His Majesty has no sense of time, right?"

"You know him too well." Ryouji smirked. He glanced at his watch and walked closer to her. "Take care of him for me, please?"

"You know I will." She responded, "Although I'm still a bit bitter that he asked Tetsu to marry him without even greeting her properly."

"It's love at first sight."

With that, Ryouji skipped off merrily towards the elevator as he was in his final year of Kōtōgakkō. Kise and Shigehiro headed up the stairs to the first floor. Their walk was quiet as Kise didn't even know Shigehiro's counterpart on Earth. All this time he wracked his brain to figure out who she was, but of no avail.

When he was about to ask, he saw her stop at class 1-3, and they entered. Immediately, everyone froze, and they stared at him.

"Good morning." Kise said with a smile. He didn't want to come off as hostile to stir up anything. These students could beat him up if they attacked at once.

"Oi, Kirishima, are you alright?" One student asked. He was a male, who had coloured green hair that matched his green blazer and tie. Being his line of work, Kise could tell that that green was not his natural hair colour; add to that, Midorima's hair doesn't look like his. Kise assumed that he wore black pants as he couldn't see due to the others blocking him. But he had numerous piercings on his ears and one on his lower lip.

"Kirishima" is the name the Princes use as everyone knew that "Kise" was associated with the Royal Family.

"Yeah, I'm just in a good mood." Kise replied. Beside him, Shigehiro laughed.

That moment, Kise saw something that left him confused. The expressions on the students' faces immediately twisted in horror, some seemed to look irate. Kise turned around to see if it was someone that came in after him, but there was no such person.

"Kirishima-kun, school just reopened," another spoke up. She was a female who wore a blue cardigan with the school's crest over a white (Kise supposed) tank top and jeans shorts. " _Don't_ cause an earthquake, or blow up anywhere!"

Kise jumped back in fright. What the hell was the Prince's school life like? Causing earthquakes? Blowing up places? Was he a walking disaster?

"Be at ease, Mia," the same green haired guy said. "Both he and Hakase are banned from the labs. They won't be able to get pass the Principal's barrier anyway. We're safe for now."

Kise was speechless. He knew the Prince didn't have any classes in the Science department, so what was he doing there anyway? He looked to Shigehiro for an explanation but the girl was busy laughing at him. All of Kise's excitement was dashed, as he thought that at least school would be somewhat fun. To say his expectation fell from the sky into an abyss would be an _understatement_. He already wanted to go home.

"Your seat is the fifth row, sixth seat from the teacher's desk." Shigehiro then whispered to him. Kise frowned. On Earth, his seat was at the back with Hakase nearby. Come to think of it, he heard the green haired guy mention his name, where was the Hakase Mahiro of this world anyway?

"So, you're probably wondering why people are telling you these things, right?" Shigehiro asked as she took a seat beside him.

"Naturally,"

"Well, Ryouta was a terror. Both he and Hakase are widely known in school, you know?" She chuckled. "While their grades are astounding, they tend to experiment with any and everything they can get their hands on. And as such, it causes tremors and once, one of the school's labs was blown up."

Kise shivered. "That monster is now loose in Japan? He'll probably sink it!"

"Don't be like that. The Prince would probably be fascinated with something else to even think about experimenting."

"There's a science club at my school! He may join and ―"

"Is there a Kise Ryouhei on Earth?" Shigehiro asked while placing a finger on his lips. Kise nodded. "Then there's nothing you should be afraid of." She then laughed. "When he blew up the lab, the King had bust his ass and used most of his monthly allowance to pay for the damages. Well, he's still paying for it."

Kise wanted to break out in tears. Does that mean _he_ won't be getting any allowance?

Not before long, the teacher entered the classroom and school was now in session. The teacher strode in with another student. The boy had white hair in which the middle section of his bangs were pulled back and pinned. He had delicately sculpted features; neat eyebrows gave way to bright yet ferocious red eyes, a straight nose sat perfectly atop lips that were akin to Japanese cherry blossoms. His face was perfect; his skin was as smooth and flawless as a photoshopped picture and Kise wondered if the guy was a Seirei. Although his brothers told him that people aren't able to differentiate between a Seirei and a Ningen, however, this boy seemed to glow.

Looking at the boy, Kise deemed him to be quite fragile, but from past experiences he knew that these innocent-looking things were anything but. In fact, they were the most dangerous. He wore the school's red blazer and a white v-neck t-shirt underneath. He only had a blue tie clip and it was attached to the breast pocket of the blazer. He had on black knee-length jeans shorts and white sneakers.

"We have a transfer student that'll be joining us." The teacher perked. She looked like a young woman with long black hair and bright amber eyes.

"I'm Shirotsuchi Kaito," the boy introduced. "Pleased to meet you."

…

The first class for the day was Spearmanship. It was scheduled for one (Sekai) hour, which is equivalent to two and a half hours on Earth. Kise was not amused. Shigehiro had shown him his classroom since all the first years had weapon class first and all the weapon classrooms were located on the same building. It was behind the Daigaku form-rooms buildings and boasted a total of five storeys. There were actually two sets of buildings for their weapon classes, placed in a right angle. The Daigaku building was the same and was right across from Kise's.

When Kise entered the building and his classroom, he was appalled. His Spear class was reminiscent of a lecture theatre, but he noticed that there was another door to the far left of the room and wondered where it led to. It couldn't be outside as they were upstairs. The students present donned colours of all three departments of the school, but Kise remembered that the school was not restrictive. Even if one belongs to one division, it isn't impossible for them to take a course or two from another.

"Alright students," a voice sounded. Kise looked around to see who spoke but couldn't. "Let's go to the practice room. We'll be doing some practicals today."

The students let out an agonized groan.

"Be quiet! I'm pretty sure you all have heard the news about the attack on the Third Prince in his bedroom. I won't be surprised if a Bakemono appeared at school as well."

"But won't you protect us, Sensei?" One student asked.

"If you aren't already dead by then." The man said as he finally came into view. He was a tall and lean man, with smooth white hair done in a bowl cut. He wore dark shades, with a purple dress shirt and white pants. He had a very laid-back attitude about him, but Kise knew that for him to be a teacher here, he's got some good skills.

They all walked through the door that Kise had been wondering about, and the blond ace saw that it was a training room like the one at the Palace. The room seemed ceiling-less, and had gridlines running from the floor, to the walls and upwards.

"Who wants to go first?" The teacher asked.

"I'll go." A muscular redhead walked towards the front of the group. He exuded an air of pride and flamboyancy that Kise detested. The blond was reminded of those arrogant characters who thought they were hot shit, when in reality; they were nothing but useless trash. But then, the redhead locked eyes with him. "And my opponent will be Kirishima."

"Hoh?" Suzuki said with folded arms. "Are you sure about that? Kirishima is the best Spearman of your cohort, you know?"

"Yes, that's why I'll steal that title today." The redhead smirked, running a hand through his silky hair. Kise had to admit, he wanted to know the product he's using. That hair was far too gorgeous!

"You hear that Kirishima? Takahashi here wants your title. Come, battle for it." Suzuki said, while making a beckoning gesture to Kise. With a sigh, the blond ace moved to the front of the group, however, he bumped into someone accidentally.

"Sorry," he said swiftly. It was the transfer student ―Shirotsuchi Kaito.

"It's alright," Kaito answered with a smile.

"Uh, huh," Kise said with uncertainty and moved off. There was something about that encounter that didn't sit right with him. Even though the boy smiled, Kise could pick up a cold and distant feeling. He was immediately reminded of a lonely deity that was devoid of emotions.

"Kirishima! Why are you gawking at Shirotsuchi!? Get your ass here!"

"Yes Sir!" Kise said heading towards Suzuki and Takahashi. Thinking about his name now, Kise thought of using the kanji for 'shiro' and 'tsuchi', he immediately got "white earth" but he dismissed the thought. There's no way someone's family name could mean that. But then again, this was Sekai, anything was flipping possible.

"Alright, the match ends when one party surrenders or time runs out. Is that clear?" Suzuki asked.

"Hai," Kise and Takahashi said.

"Great, you have fifteen minutes." Suzuki said as he set his watch. "Begin!"

As if in perfect tandem with the teacher, Takahashi was already charging at Kise with his long spear extended out. Kise quickly materialized his twin spears whilst taking galloping steps backwards. Takahashi was fast (well, normal speed for Ningen) and Kise was in anguish at this. He was not yet at their level, and he prayed that he didn't embarrass himself today.

Takahashi swung the spear in an arc towards Kise, forcing the blond to bend backwards in order to dodge. Getting out of that stance quickly, Kise steadied himself and proceeded to swipe at the redhead's face with one of the spears. However, a magic circle appeared and as the spear collided with it, blazing red flames travelled onto Kise's spear.

He had to fling it away, as the heat felt as though it'll melt his skin off. Imagine if the fire had managed to touch him.

"Ha!" Takahashi laughed out. "I can smell victory already!"

Kise silently cursed. He could use magic, but he still had a long way to go before he had even a little bit of mastery. At his current level, all he could use are the most destructive ones that are indifferent to place and people present. In this space, there's no way he could even think about it. Add to that, he hasn't finished studying some of them yet.

Takahashi's spear retracted a little before extending out to Kise in swift jabbing motions. In addition, Takahashi used his magic as well, so Kise had to both be avoiding Fire magic and a spear. But strangely, the blond was calm. Such wild and vicious antics reminded him of Ryouji when he was overexcited, the long spear was similar to the King's, although it lacked the thick protrusions.

Kise bent down on one knee before sweeping out his other leg in a wide graceful arc, effectively knocking Takahashi off his feet. The boy's back collided with the ground with a heavy 'thud', and Kise moved in quickly to finish him off.

Suddenly, a surge of fire surrounded the boy and Kise had to back off.

"You got lucky there, Kirishima." Takahashi said. "It won't happen again."

Kise felt like he was in peril. He couldn't even touch the guy, then how was he supposed to bring him down? Then, Kise felt a hot, stinging pain on his left shoulder and noticed that Takahashi had thrust the spear and it grazed his shoulder. But that wasn't it; the tip of the spear had Fire.

 _Shit!_ Kise mentally cursed as he hopped to the left. He had to end this and _fast._ He didn't care about the Prince's title of being the best Spearman; he just didn't like to lose a fight he didn't start. He never wanted to come up here in the first place but it seemed that Takahashi had some beef with the other Ryouta.

Kise had a plan that he hoped will work. He dashed to Takahashi and tried yet again with his other spear and it met the same fate as the first. Now discarded the two burning spears, Kise looked at Takahashi.

"Haha! Why don't you just give up?!" Takahashi laughed. "There's no point since you have no weapon!" He continued his laughter and Kise took this time to attack. He had a feeling that Takahashi would lower his guard since he was now weapon-less, but that was what the blond wanted.

Reaching up to the fool, Kise landed a punch in his abdomen, causing the boy to double over. Not waiting for him to recover, Kise grabbed his cheeks with both hands and sent his knee to meet the boy's chin. Takahashi was stunted. He staggered backwards howling out in pain but Kise didn't ease up. The blond knew that once Takahashi recovered it would be over for him.

Kise took hold of the boy's wrist and twisted it so that the spear would fall to the floor. A loud clatter was heard, but seeing that, Takahashi used his Fire to force Kise to let go. He made an attempt for the spear, but sliding on his knee, Kise managed to kick it away just a split second before the fumbling Takahashi.

The fifteen minutes had ended, but Suzuki was interested in Kise's style of fighting. In Sekai, Martial arts didn't exist as they had crazy magic and super weapons so Suzuki along with the rest of the students were intrigued at this.

Turning onto his back, Kise swung out his foot but Takahashi reacted in time and stumbled backwards. He was still in pain, but continued to churn out small fireballs aimed at Kise. However, his aim was off and Kise was glad for this. These fireballs were nothing compared to Ryouma's lightning arrows.

Making haste, the blond charged towards Takahashi on his left all the while ducking and dodging the balls like he was weaving through defence in a basketball game. A burst of Fire came towards him, but Kise spun on his heel and stretched out his open hand. His fingers were together, but it was his pinky side that he was going to use.

Within a flash, Kise's Knife Hand Strike (classic Karate Chop) crashed into the side of Takahashi's neck, the redhead letting out a howl of pain before slumping to the ground. The Fire in the room were immediately gone, and Kise motioned to pick up his twin spears. But they were still hot. Quickly, he stored them into his spatial ring.

"Kirishima," Suzuki called.

"Yes Sensei?"

"You didn't kill him, right?"

"No, he's just unconscious." Kise replied with a smile. But in reality, he prayed that he didn't. After all, remembering what he did to Ryouji the first time the two battled…

After Suzuki checked Takahashi's pulse, he turned and looked to Kise. "See me after class." The blond blanched thinking that he may have done something, but the teacher dismissed the negativity quickly by saying that he just wanted to have a talk.

However, no one noticed Kaito looking at Kise with a gleam in his eyes. "He's perfect."

…

Suzuki ended his class early to have to chat with Kise. The blond's moves were exceptional, and he noticed that Kise seemed to be a master in it. He inquired about it, asking about effectiveness and execution. He believed that this was a good idea, having the ability to fight even when disarmed.

As such, Kise explained and even demonstrated some of the moves, leaving Suzuki appalled and grinning. However, Kise didn't dare to take credit for these moves; he told the man that he had learned it somewhere and that he couldn't disclose the information without his father's permission. It wasn't a lie. Suzuki understood and left it at that, but Kise was nice enough to impart to the teacher some of the moves he uses with his spears.

After Suzuki's class, Kise had Geography in his form-room. When he got comfortable in his seat, he looked at his classmates and realized that there are some of _his_ classmates from Earth present. He spotted Oda Jirou, a tall youth he couldn't stand. There was also a female (whose name he couldn't remember). On Earth, he didn't like her, nor did he hate her. She was just a classmate. But the others, he didn't recognize them and didn't try to at the moment.

"Hello, you look like you're spacing out, Kirishima." A gentle voice said from behind him. Kise jerked a little, and turned around to see that same Shirotsuchi guy from his class earlier. Kise had to admit, he was good with the spear.

"Yeah, I was just thinking that's all." Kise said as he turned his face away. He didn't like Shirotsuchi very much, as his behaviour indicated to Kise that he may seem to know something. He moved as though he had incriminating evidence against Kise and the blond didn't like that one bit. He wondered if it was something that had to with the destructive Prince, but then again, he was a transfer student, he shouldn't know anything about any student here, right?

"By the way, I don't know your name. I just know that you're Kirishima."

"Oh, I'm Kirishima Ryouta." Kise answered. "Where are you from?"

Kaito laughed. It sounded like a sweet melody. Was he singing? "I've always lived in the Kaijou Kingdom." He said. His face looked as though he was reminiscing. "There's no place like home, right?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Have you ever been to the Stone Forest?" He then asked. His eyes looked like they were beaming.

Kise wracked his brain. _Stone Forest, Stone Forest…_ He thought over and over to jog his memory. It came back to him as one of those strange landscapes that defied laws of Nature. In Kaijou, there was the Stone Forest, in which trees are made out of dirt basically. Their barks and branches were like soft loam soil, but with each specie came a different type of leaf. Some had leaves that were like sand; while on the tree, they were perfectly in the shape of leaves but as soon as heat is applied (as intense as Fire magic) they crumble into sand. Others had leaves that could be classified as rocks.

But as one goes deeper into the forest, the chocolate brown trees gave way to a beautiful scenery. The trees here were made out of "white earth" as he had read, where, instead of the dirt being brown, it was pristine white. Vines and shrubs and all sorts of flora bloomed here, and their colours varied from white to others.

Beneath the Stone Forest was a "gold" mine so to speak. Beautiful gems of different shapes, sizes, hardness and colours lay there ―diamonds, sapphires, jaspers almost every gem and precious stone. In addition, due to the constant lightning storms of times past, some of the trees here have formed gems in their barks where the lightning crashed.

"No, I've never been there. Why the sudden interest?" Kise asked. Best to try and avoid getting caught up in a whirlpool from early.

"Isn't that where the Earth Seirei lives?" Shigehiro said, startling the two.

"So, Seirei live in seclusion?" Kise asked. He was relieved that she had arrived to direct the conversation elsewhere. "I thought they mingled with Ningen."

"They do." Kaito responded. "But this Seirei is the one who created this continent. There are many who are after his power, so he hides away in the Forest. And that's the reason why the Kingdom was always attacked in the past."

"But if he's the one who created the continent, can't he destroy all those who are after him instead of becoming a hermit?" Kise's interest was actually piqued.

Kaito and Shigehiro shrugged.

"By the way, how does one capture a Seirei? Aren't they more powerful than we are?" Kise asked.

Kaito and Shigehiro shrugged yet again.

"I think it has something do with a contract between the Seirei and a Ningen. Both parties have to agree for it to work though." Shigehiro said. "And when a Ningen forms a contract with a Seirei, the Seirei is able to see into the contractor's mind. This way, the Seirei can be swayed to follow the ideologies and thus, end up falling under the country's brainwash. The reverse is also true."

"Oh." Kise nodded in understanding.

"But there are some Seirei that are more powerful than others. If all Seirei were on the same level ability wise, then the one in the Stone Forest wouldn't need to go into seclusion." Kaito added. "These Seirei have a special ability to their Element which makes them so special. For example, the Earth Seirei has an ability that people dub "White Canvas". He turns the ground and everything white, and manipulates it to his wish. He can create vines, trees, shrubs anything that can grow in the dirt, almost like he's drawing or painting."

"Hence the name, "White Canvas"." Shigehiro replied with a smile.

"I see."

Just then, the teacher entered and Kise's eyebrows rose in suspicion. He looked across to Shigehiro, who was at the final row. He mouthed to her, "Seirei?" and she nodded. The teacher looked extremely young, to Kise, he could put on their uniform and end up getting mistook for a student.

He had curly brown hair and piercing green eyes. His skin was smooth and beautiful, once again, reminding Kise of a photoshopped picture. The teacher immediately began class, and this time, this class lasted for half-an-hour (Sekai time). On Earth, this would be equivalent to one hour and fifteen minutes.

The class flowed smoothly; there wasn't a single incident or mishap on Kise's part.

…

After Geography class, they had lunch, but Kise never set foot in the cafeteria as according to Shigehiro, lunch is a warzone. Both Shigehiro and Kaito had headed to cafeteria, Kise met with Ryouji and Ryouma and they headed to the Prince's clubroom.

The clubroom was clean and tidy, and was similar to a classroom except for a TV nestled at the front of the room at the whiteboard. There were students present, who Ryouji had whispered were his club-mates.

"Hello, Seirin! How you doing~!" Ryouji chirped. All eyes turned to look at the trio, and a stifling silence enveloped the entire room. As Kise scanned his eyes at the students, he could identify some of the immediately, while some, he wasn't sure of.

There was a mixture of blazer colours from all the departments, although there were mostly red and blue.

"He's here!" came the unison shout from the occupants as they all dashed towards him. Kise's eyes was assaulted with familiar and unfamiliar faces, and for the first time since he's arrived here, felt as though he was experiencing a fangirl attack all over again.

"Uh, can you step back a little bit?" Kise asked nicely. "You're crowding me and I'm claustrophobic."

Laughter then rang out as the crowd dispersed from him. Just then, a tall brown haired youth with two hairclips at the side of his bangs walked up to him and said,

"You're claustrophobic too? Who would have thought?!" His brown eyes were beaming with happiness. He wore red like Kise with blue and purple tie clips. "Oh man and here I thought I'd have to deal with a ragtag bastard!"

Looking at the male, Kise felt as though he's seen the boy's Earthly counterpart but he couldn't put a finger on him.

"You look confused," his laughter simmered down into a chuckle. "In case you're wondering, I'm Aida Riko, nice to meet you." But then Riko took a step closer to him with killing intent oozing out of his body. "Make fun of my name and I'll kill you."

"I won't!" But Kise was shocked. Seirin's lady coach was a male over here? And he seemed damn scary too.

"You look like you're a good boy." Riko nodded as he walked away towards the club members. "I'll introduce everyone to you." He said. But before that could happen, Kise felt immense heat at his neck and something pressed up against his body.

"You son of a bitch," the person spat angrily. While Kise couldn't see the face, by the voice, he could tell that it was a female. Looking down, he saw a curved blade engulfed in fire poised around his neck. One wrong move and he'll be beheaded. "I heard you made a move on Tetsu and ―"

"Taiga-san." Riko said, his voice sending chills down everyone's spines.

 _Taiga?_ Kise thought. _Kagamicchi?_ The blade was moved and Kise immediately turned around to see "Taiga". He was right. There was no mistaking those animalistic red eyes and split eyebrows. This angry girl here was Kagami Taiga.

Her red blazer was tied around her waist, and she only had one tie clip which was blue. In her hand was a gigantic scythe and Kise realized that she had that thing at his neck not too long ago. To be honest, she was thick in all the right places, and her face was pretty. Her red eyes were bigger than her male counterpart which emphasized its rich colour.

"President," Taiga seemed to whimper. "I can't let this lecher walk free! He only wants to get into Tetsu's panties―"

"You don't know me." Kise interrupted. "Don't judge me."

"You wanna go ikemen-kun?" she snarled viciously.

"Stop it you two." Riko said yet again. Immediately, they both froze. "Now, get in line. I have to introduce you fools to him."

Everyone stood according to their blazer colours, starting from red to blue, to green to purple. As Kise looked, he wondered who the girls (minus Taiga) were.

"From the Chevalier school, we have Kobori Kouji, Hyuuga Junpei…" Kise nodded as they had retained their genders, "…Hayakawa Mitsuhiro, and the hothead being Kagami Taiga."

Kise nearly fainted when he saw Mitsuhiro. _She_ was pretty. More so, her eyebrows were perfectly arched, in comparison to Hayakawa's bushy ones on Earth. But, he noticed that on Kouji and Mitsuhiro's ties were no clips, but Taiga and Junpei both had blue tie clips.

"From the Magic school, we have Nakamura Shinya, Izuki Shun and Kuroko Tetsuya."

Kise gaped once more. Not because Tetsuya was flipping gorgeous in her uniform ―blue blazer neatly buttoned and black pleated skirt that stopped a little above her mid-thighs. Her black stockings met her skirt's hem. Her blue tie had one red tie clip. Tetsuya had Kise drooling like a starving beast whose eyes just spotted a juicy prey.

Kise gaped because Nakamura Shinya was a female. She had long ash-blond hair done in a curly side pony-tail and wore her trademark black glasses. She wore the same uniform as Tetsuya but without the stockings and tie clip.

Shun was next, and she was a cutie. Her face was small, and her skin was like porcelain. She had hair bangs done in a sweep to the left with side bangs framing her face. The back of her hair was done upwards into a neat bun. He recognized her to be Seirin's point guard, as although in this world she's a female, there weren't much difference from her Earthly counterpart.

The remainder of the club were from the school of Science & Technology ―Furihata Kouki, Kawahara Koichi and Fukuda Hiroshi being in the department of science and thus wore green blazers and ties with the clips being blue; Koganei Shinji, Mitobe Rinnosuke, Tsuchida Satoshi and Kiyoshi Teppei belonging to the department of technology and as such wore purple blazers and ties.

Shinji was a female, with cute cat like features and she was another person that Kise couldn't forget. They all had red tie clips.

Ryouji and Ryouma had been sitting the entire time with Yukio and Yoshitaka, watching everything unfold without a care in the world. Both Yukio and Yoshitaka wore red blazers but Yukio's only tie clip was blue while Yoshitaka's two were blue and purple. In addition, while her counterpart on Earth wore black knee-high socks, Yukio wore black thigh high boots that hugged her thighs and legs tightly.

When everyone was settled, Riko hauled Kise to the front of the room, and they fired off questions at the poor boy about Earth.

"Alright, alright," Kise said with a heavy sigh, opening his chopsticks. He wasn't planning on letting himself starve because he was answering their questions. "One at a time. There's no need to rush."

For about four minutes Kise answered their questions before Shigehiro arrived, with Kaito in tow. While Kaito introduced himself, Kise didn't know why, but there was something about the white-haired boy that didn't feel right.

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review!**_


	12. Creating Ice Magic

**_A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed, faved and followed!_**

 ** _Enjoy!_**

* * *

Chapter 12

 _Creating Ice Magic_

…

The remainder of lunch went along normally, but no matter how much Kise tried to get to close to Tetsuya to strike up a conversation, Taiga and Shigehiro repelled him by brandishing their weapons. Ryouma and Ryouji tried to encourage him that there will be numerous chances for him to strike, but his hopes were dashed when Tetsuya said that she didn't think of him that way.

"Don't worry, Ryouta." Ryouji said, soothing the crying blond. "You have the Kise gene. And as such, you're bound to be irresistible."

"That's right," Ryouma piped in. "Tetsuya-san can be stubborn for so long and no more. As long as you're persistent, _she will be yours_."

Kise didn't know whether or not his brothers were being encouraging or slightly threatening. But being persistent was something Ryouma didn't need to tell him. Kise had made up his mind to stop at nothing to win her over. After all, this was the female version to Kurokocchi. He'd have to die first before she lands in someone else's hands. Thank God Taiga was a female in this world.

After lunch, Kise had Lightning class with Shigehiro, much to his relief that he was away from Kaito. There wasn't anything wrong the boy _at the moment_ , he seemed pretty normal. Still, there was a nagging feeling and Kise didn't like it. Being in this world, he _wasn't_ going to blow it off as paranoia.

Pushing that aside, his Lightning Class actually went smoothly for the hour that it was scheduled. It was a theory class since the entire time before the one week's break they had been practicing their magic. And as such, this was another class that Kise endured without any mishap.

Luckily, after his magic class, he was free for one (Sekai) hour. Of course, he didn't know what to do or where to go, so Shigehiro decided to give him a tour of the school. He wished she hadn't.

Saying the school was gigantic would have been an understatement. It was massive.

Apart from his form-room building and weapon classrooms, there were also 'Elemental Classrooms'. These were located on a huge five-storey building, one floor for each element. These were specially designed to accommodate the different elements of the students, in case their magic got out of control. This was where Kise had his Lightning class, and the walls were cushioned with rubber. The classroom had one sole window, which was made out of a special glass that Lightning refracted off of.

The next set of buildings they toured was the simulation rooms. These were a group of buildings that were located across a gigantic and dusty field which was surrounded by shielded spectator seats. The simulation rooms were just like the adjacent classroom of his Spear class, gridlines covering the floor and walls, seeming to be ceiling-less.

"These classrooms are used to let us experience what fighting the Bakemono is like and other wild animals. Of course, we aren't harmed in these rooms, but depending on the mood of the teacher, we can have the pain factor." Shigehiro explained. "So, if in the simulation we lose an arm, be sure to brace yourself for some pain. But, there are some teachers who are nice enough to not use the pain factor or limit it to a sting or something."

"I don't want to experience that." Kise said with a shiver.

Shigehiro laughed. "You have the class Thursday, first session!"

"How fantastic." Kise said with sarcasm.

…

His last class for the day was Magic Spell Creation. As its name states, students learn about how magic spells are created. Sadly (but a relief for Kise), first year students don't start putting into practice these theories until second year. Once again, Kise went through his class smoothly without incident. Despite his chatty nature, Kise knew when to keep his mouth shut from when not to. Unlike a certain Prince.

Finally, it was time for club activities. Kise had been itching to know what the "Seirin" club of this world did, being that basketball didn't exist. But he could have a vague idea since there was a mixture of blazer colours present today.

When Kise, Shigehiro and Kaito entered, there were the majority of the club members present, only a few were missing ―Kouki, Koichi, Hiroshi, Taiga, Tetsuya and Shinya.

"So what do we do for club activities?" Kaito asked as he went over to Riko. Kise's ears immediately perked up and he internally sighed a relief. He had been curious as well.

"Well, you should already know that at the end of the second semester, clubs will be assessed, right?" Riko answered. Kise's eyebrows furrowed at that statement.

Kaito nodded. "And this assessment takes the form of battle simulations against Bakemono, right?" At that moment, Kise wanted to disappear. He didn't even know what a Bakemono looked like in the flesh, and he sure didn't want to.

Riko nodded. "So, in order to prepare ourselves for these simulations, we can create our own weapons, magic spells and stratagems."

Kise seemed to sparkle when he heard Riko said 'create weapons' and 'magic spells'. He then leaned over to Yukio who was sitting beside Yoshitaka.

"Does that mean we can create any weapon?" He asked.

"Yeah, as long as it's within our club budget. After all, if our weapon is good enough, the Military will pay us for the blueprints." She deadpanned. "Don't tell me you're planning on creating something massive like a moving fortress?"

"No way!" He shook his head in denial. "I'm not crazy. But I thought that first years couldn't create magic spells in class. How are we able to in club?"

"Because a club is diverse. As you can see, we have people from the different departments and different year groups. It means that first years like yourself can learn from your Senpai. However, to be on the safe side, no club allows their first years to create a spell on their own without any guidance."

"I see. So what kind of magic spells have you created?"

"You'll soon see." Yoshitaka smirked.

"Come on, Yoshitaka-senpai," Kise whined. He felt a bit odd since he was used to calling Moriyama Yoshitaka as 'Moriyama-senpai'. However, to not confuse himself with his 'Moriyama-senpai' from Earth, he's calling this one 'Yoshitaka'. "Is it some form of Ice magic or something?"

"Ice magic? That doesn't exist." Yoshitaka and Yukio responded.

Kise let out a gasp of surprise. "You mean, in the entire continent, probably the entire world too, there is no Ice magic?"

"Of course not, there are only five elements and Ice is not one of them." Shinji had joined in with Rinnosuke beside her. Her tone was a-matter-of-factly. "This is basic knowledge."

Kise's shock led him to grin and rub his hands in a sinister way. "It's a combination. In Japan, hell, on Earth, there are fictions which with characters either have magic or superpowers. These abilities come in the form of anything really, but for the elemental ones, I've read numerous manga and watched numerous anime that had characters combining two or three elements to make another."

"But that's fiction." The three deadpanned. Rinnosuke nodded to show that he agreed.

"But your reality is my fiction." Kise grinned. "One famous combination is Water plus Air equals Ice/Snow. Couldn't you guys try it out?"

"Combining two magics to form another? First, what's the ratio of water to air?" Yoshitaka asked.

Kise stared blankly. "I don't know. But I do know that for Ice, the ratio of Air to Water is greater, while with Snow it's the reverse."

Yoshitaka then looked across to Rinnosuke. As if they could read each other's minds, with an index finger on the desk top, Rinnosuke placed a simple Water magic circle on the desk top. A small ball of water hovered in the air above the magic circle; afterwards Yoshitaka followed, and layered his Air magic circle on top Rinnosuke's. The five could see the Air forming a ball around the Water and watched with keen eyes.

"Remember, Air magic is supposed to be greater than Water magic to get the Ice. After all, you're solidifying the water with air." Kise said. Yoshitaka gave him a stank look as if saying 'who the hell are you telling that?'.

Soon, they could see the Water hardening as the Air disappeared. Yukio and Shinji were shocked; Yoshitaka looked like he's seen a ghost. Rinnosuke looked like he was about to faint any moment.

Just then, the ball of Ice fell onto the desk and the five were in silence for a while. Kise looked at them with a smug expression. But deep down inside, he was bursting with joy. As much as Sekai was boring, he found something that could satiate his boredom. And with his wide knowledge of the fictions in Japan, he's going to get pretty busy.

"Riko!" Yukio screeched. Riko and Kaito turned to look in her direction.

"Yes, Yukio-senpai?" Riko asked, wondering the reason for her outburst. Yukio was not a woman a scream if not necessary.

"We made Ice!" She took up the desk and showed it to the brown haired boy. Everyone present gaped. Riko touched the small ball of Ice and was appalled. Everyone knew the chemical process of ice forming, but it never crossed anyone's mind about using magic to do this. Junpei, Shun and the others crowded around in amazement.

"How did you?" He asked.

"Water and Air magic. It was Ryouta's idea."

Immediately, all eyes left off the ball of Ice and onto Kise. He made a smile to try and ease his nervousness but it didn't work. Instead, Riko came over to him. Holding onto his shoulder, he pulled Kise out of the clubroom and outside.

"Was that from your world?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's in fictions that have magic and superpowers as the main genre."

"I see. Are there any more?"

"Tons." Kise grinned.

"Great." Riko's eyes looked a bit sinister.

"But I can't believe that Sekai doesn't have elemental combinations." Kise said. "Given how smart you all are, it's extremely surprising."

Riko shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me. I really can't answer that question." He then returned to the clubroom with a sinister smile and said, "Guess what?"

"We're going to be doing that combination thing as of now, right?" Junpei sighed.

"That's right! We'll blow away those simulations and the teachers with Ryouta's ideas!"

And in all this, Kaito's red eyes sparkled as he looked at Kise. He walked over to the blond and stretched out his hand for a handshake.

"Please take care of me, Senpai."

"But I'm not your Senpai." Kise said. "We're the same age."

"You've been in this club far longer than I have. Thus, you're my Senpai."

"Oh, okay." Kise reluctantly said. "But I'll still feel uncomfortable. Just call me Kirishima-kun." He shook Kaito's hand and in the moment of contact, Kise felt something run through his entire body. It felt foreign, as though something had just invaded his system. Quickly retracting his hand, he looked at Kaito with fear. Every hair on Kise's body stood up, his brain was telling his feet to run but he couldn't move.

"What's wrong, Kirishima-kun?" Kaito asked feigning innocence.

"N-N-Nothing," Kise stammered out. He retreated and took out his phone to ask Ryouji and Ryouma where the hell they were. He couldn't bear this any longer. He had to keep himself away Kaito for as long as possible.

On the other hand, Kaito smirked while he looked at Kise with sparkling eyes. "How interesting."

…

King Ryouhei was swamped with work as usual. The investigation on his son's attack hasn't born any fruit apart from their previous discovery and Hikaru had found Ryouta's attendants innocent. That led the Chief of Police to start suspecting that it may be someone from the Royal Family. There were many who wanted to capture him to be used as leverage, but he couldn't decipher who in the Royal Family would want him dead.

It couldn't have been his wife or his other sons as they had more power and position than Ryouta. As the third child, he was entitled to command over the Self-Defence Force. That's it. Ryouma was the next King, Ryouji was the next Prime Minister, obviously none of them would want to kill their little brother. And if they did, they would have done so a long time ago.

It was then that he thought about his brother ―Prime Minister Kouhei's family. Kouhei was out of the question as they both were dealing with work together, his wife Kimiko was busy fighting Bakemono, and their sons ―Kousuke and Kousei were on errand for both him and their father, Kouen was…

King Ryouhei snapped up.

Kouen was the only one that they _never_ knew what he was up to. He was the only one who returned home after the other boys came home from school, and his explanation was that 'he was busy' or 'he was meeting with a friend for assistance' or something like that.

Kouen wouldn't try to assassinate Ryouta, would he?

He knew his three boys and Kouen has some bad blood going on, but Kouen wouldn't go that far, right? The King was baffled. He didn't want to suspect Kouen on such a baseless whim, but he was the only one that he was unsure of. Although, the King knew that sometimes the culprits are the ones that he'd least expect.

Putting that on hold, he began to look through the other documents.

The first one was a report from the Fifth Army Division about successfully exterminating a wave of Bakemono that was heading to Nagano City. There were a few causalities but lucky, no deaths.

Satisfied with just that, the King moved onto the next thing, which had his eyebrows rising. This was a report from the special division ―The Blue Elites, about suspicious activity amongst a group of people located within the Kingdom. They operated close to the Stone Forest, and while they did nothing incriminating, it seemed as though they were scheming something.

At this, the King let out a deep sigh.

Anything with "suspicious group" and "Stone Forest" in the same sentence could only mean one thing. They were after the Earth Seirei that lived there. Since he was the one who created this entire continent, many sought after his power, hoping to create a perfect country in terms of land resources.

The biggest blunder on their part was that no one knew what the Seirei looked like. Hell, they don't even know his name. There was one thing that everyone called him and that was "White Canvas" due to his special ability.

The King was tired of this, he's experienced two wars over this very same Seirei and honestly, he wondered if "White Canvas's" pursuers didn't get the memo. He sighed yet again, as he'd have to send this information to the Earth Seirei, after all, they were on good terms. King Ryouhei was the only one who knew his identity.

Taking a break from this, he got up and looked through his window. In the faint distance, he could see the high rise buildings of his sons' school, and wondered how Kise was faring. In the King's eyes, he wasn't half as good as the original Ryouta, but he managed to get his skills to a passable level. His Spearmanship however, was on another level. It was frighteningly comparable to his original son's, and he wasn't even using the other spears as yet.

King Ryouhei was actually eager to see how much more will that monster evolve.

Just then, the telephone rang. He walked over to the desk and pressed the button. A holographic picture of a well dressed man standing outside the door came up, followed by a voice:

"Your Majesty, Hakase Mashiro-san wishes to seek an audience with you."

King Ryouhei let out a sigh and pushed the button. He really should do something about this. Soon, the doors swung open and the raven-haired male entered.

"Your Majesty," he greeted with a bow.

"Hakase-san." King Ryouhei did likewise. When he straightened, he said, "No one's here, we can drop the formalities."

"Much appreciated." Mashiro said with a smile. "On regards to the regulator, I can say that it's completely safe."

"It won't have any adverse effect on him after?"

"Nope! It isn't made up of anything organic or metallic so he can't get allergic." Mashiro said with confidence. "Plus, we have ten people who have been living with it for fifty years now. It's more than "tried" and "tested"."

"I see." The King said as he nodded. "Can I have him get it done once he gets home from school? Or tomorrow?"

"Consider it done." Mashiro smiled.

 _xxxx_

"Ryouta, are you alright?" Hakase asked as he took a seat on the chair. They had arrived at Kise's house not too long ago, and without even changing his clothes, the Prince headed into his room and curled up underneath the sheets. Hakase has never seen the Prince like this in his short time together and he felt it was somewhat refreshing.

Prior, he thought the Prince was dangerous, hard to handle and like a tempest sometimes. In reality, it was just that he had been severely traumatized and over the years it manifested in such a form. He then wondered if Ryouta had never been captured, would he have been like Kise?

"I'm fine." Came the muffled answer. Hakase rolled his eyes. This was like standard procedure. It's clear that the person wasn't "alright", yet still, they answer in the positive.

"What's wrong?" Hakase asked, taking a seat beside him on the bed.

"I said I'm fine." He said, almost in a deadpan.

Hakase got up and headed to the door. "Okay, if you say so." He replied. But he knew the Prince was far from all right. "I'll be going ―"

Hakase broke off as he felt something tight latch around his waist and wrists. Looking down at it, he saw that it was shiny, thick and rope-like. Touching it, Hakase couldn't tell what it was made out of. It was smooth and soft, but there was a lingering hardness to it. When he looked up to spot the source, he immediately had an idea of what was entangling him.

A whip.

Ryouta held onto a handle that was like a katana's hilt, while smooth whip-like things swirled about like silky golden ribbons. However, that didn't stun him. It was the pleading look on the Prince's face.

"Don't leave me." He whispered, his golden hair bangs were covering his face.

"But aren't you hungry? I was going to cook."

Ryouta shook his head.

"Okay, I'll stay."

The instant Hakase said so; he felt a strong pulling force and his body immediately flew forwards into the Prince's grip. The whip had disappeared into his spatial ring, and Ryouta placed his face into Hakase's chest. This was an awkward position, but Hakase knew that just this once he'll have to endure it.

"Don't go." Ryouta said once again. "Please,"

"I won't." Hakase rubbed his back in an attempt to comfort him. Ryouta placed his head in Hakase's lap and closed his eyes. Not knowing what to do, Hakase rubbed the Prince's hair with gentleness, hoping that he'll soon fall asleep. But, the Prince wasn't going to.

"How did you manage to get kidnapped anyway?" Hakase then asked. He was actually curious, as with a psychotic father such as the King, how did his kidnappers succeed?

"Shutoku and Kaijou are good friends," Ryouta started with a yawn. "So many times we have student exchanges and information exchanges and friendly things like that. I was in my first year of Chuugakkō at the time, and was selected as an exchange student to go to Shutoku. The reason being was that my spearmanship was top-notch."

"Before you continue, what's Chuugakkō?" Hakase asked.

"In Japan, you'd read it as Middle School." He said with an eye roll. Hakase twitched. Even though he was in such a state, the Prince is still his same feisty self.

"Oh." He wasn't going to inquire about why they start Middle school at age ten and not thirteen like the Japanese, because he knew that it will probably lead to another set of questions.

"Since Shutoku is primarily an Archery country, they often time have exchanges to improve their close range weapon skills and with Kaijou, it'll improve our Archery."

"I see."

"So, when I was actually leaving for Shutoku, I was led to the Teleportation terminal with my father. He came along with me to meet the King of Shutoku, and after I was led to my room. Well, I was supposed to have been led to my room."

"Is that where you were taken?"

"Yup." Ryouta said, with yet another disgraceful yawn. For a Prince, his current behaviour would have been deemed unsightly. "I've never been to Shutoku before, so I didn't even think that I was being kidnapped. It was when I saw that we were leaving Tokyo and heading into some strange place that I started up a ruckus. Without even caring, I released my most destructive magic at the time, which alerted my father and well, destroying anything within a five mile radius."

"Wow," Hakase said, "That must have been one hell of a spell."

Ryouta scoffed. "Looking back, that spell is nothing compared to the ones I know now."

"I wouldn't want to witness it for myself." Hakase shivered. "What are you? An overpowered character?"

"Yes I am." Ryouta grinned. "Anyway, I managed to flee the scene, but as a ten year-old, I was inexperienced and such, I was quickly caught and knocked out. By the time I woke up, I was surrounded by water."

"It's that the water dungeon you were telling me about?"

"Yeah. In Sekai, when you catch someone or imprison them for crimes, in order for them to not escape, you'd have to place them in a cell or dungeon that negates their magic. For example, with me, I won't be able to use my lightning if I'm surrounded by water."

"Because your lightning will charge the water and you could end up getting electrocuted right?"

"Exactly. Just as if someone's element is Air, you'll lock them up in a Lightning cell."

"That's pretty cool."

Ryouta gave him a repulsed look. "It's not. But anyway, I was locked in there for ten days and tortured. In essence, I was pushed to the brink of death so many times that at one point I thought I didn't know if it was reality or my subconscious making me hallucinate."

Hakase nearly choked on air. "I'm-I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, I know."

"So, umm," Hakase didn't even know what to say. He wanted to cheer up the Prince, but there was nothing that he could say to alleviate him. This was out of his league; he wasn't a counsellor or a psychiatrist. Add to that, the Prince couldn't go to any counselling sessions because he wasn't of this world. There was nothing to be done.

"I know that after what happened today, I doubt that we'd have basketball practice tomorrow." He then managed to say. "So, you want to go to an amusement park or something?"

"What's an amusement park?" Ryouta asked, cracking an eye open. "Is it a place where we're amused?"

Hakase stifled down his laughter. "It's somewhere we go to have fun. Although some rides are scary, it's the thrill and excitement that people enjoy."

Ryouta rose up. "The rides are scary but people love it? How does that make sense? Scary and love don't go hand in hand. If you're afraid of something, there isn't going to be love."

"That's Sekai's philosophy." Hakase grinned. "Remember, this is Japan."

"Oh, alright." Ryouta stretched. He then curled up beside Hakase, attempting to sleep. Hakase got up but as soon as he did so, Ryouta wrapped his hands around Hakase's waist and viciously yanked him down onto the bed.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked, placing his chin onto Hakase's shoulder.

"To the kitchen." Hakase said. "And your face is too close. It's too close!" Hakase shrieked. The Prince's face was extremely close; the two could feel the heat from each other.

"No. Stay." Ryouta replied, totally ignoring the other sentence. "I need comfort. Daddy always comforts me when I'm sad."

"Comfort? And I'm not your parent! I can't ―"

Ryouta glared at him. "If you ever move, I'll destroy Japan."

"But then you won't have any mangas to read."

"I can read Korean manhwas, or even Chinese Manhuas, hell, even American Comics. Don't test me."

"Yes Sir." Not wanting to prove whether or not the Prince was actually serious, Hakase got comfortable beside Ryouta and had no choice but to watch him sleep. There were many times when the raven-haired teen wanted to slip away, but the Prince's grip was like iron.

Giving up, Hakase resigned to his fate.

* * *

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 **Guest: You can leave a review in your native language (it would be awesome if it was French), there are online translators that we could use. No need to stress yourself to write in English. :)**


	13. First Encounter with Tae Syun

_**A/N: Thanks to all those who reviewed, faved and followed!**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

* * *

Chapter 13

 _First encounter with Tae Syun_

…

Hakase got up and stretched. He saw that he was in bed while the Prince was fast asleep in the chair around the table. He rested his head on his folded arms with his face turned towards the door. Hakase was confused. He then walked up to the blond but instead of waking him; he pulled the swivel chair and pushed Ryouta towards the bed. Hakase then hauled him up and out of the chair and onto the bed.

Luckily for him (and by extent the Prince), Hakase and Kise had often spent time over each other's house and their parents knew each other. So, there was no need for Hakase's parents to fret or fly into a fit for him not coming home yesterday.

He headed to the bathroom, and proceeded to brush his teeth. His toothbrush was there, and so too his towel and rag. After he was done, he headed into the shower and took a bath. Some minutes later, he emerged from the bathroom, got dressed and headed downstairs hoping to see Ryouhei and Ritsuko. When he rounded the corner, he saw the two; Ryouhei was writing a note to stick it on the fridge.

"Good morning Kise-san." He greeted to the two.

"Good morning." The two parents greeted with a smile.

Ryouhei then spoke, "I heard what happened on the news. It was the Prince's doing, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Hakase replied, sounding a bit sad. "But, this time it's not like he's got no self-control. Actually, he was traumatized and an opposing player said something to stir up those buried memories. That's what made his magic go out of control."

Ryouhei and Ritsuko jaws dropped.

There were two reasons for this ―their son was traumatized? An indescribable anger was welling within Ryouhei and even though this Ryouta wasn't his direct son, he still felt as such. The other reason for their gaping was that his magic was released in a public space. In a match, all eyes are going to be on the court and the players, but in Kaijou's case, everyone will be watching Kise Ryouta, their ace and a member of the Generation of Miracles. Hadn't someone seen? In such a situation, there's no way Ryouta will escape unscathed.

"So, did anyone see?" Ritsuko asked. She really needed an answer so that she could plan ahead.

"More than likely." Hakase replied. "When the Prince collapsed on his fours, we had gathered around him before his magic acted up. So, Coach and the other players and probably the referee saw the Lightning moving around his body."

"Oh shit." Ryouhei blanched.

"Don't worry; I'm pretty sure that the shock from the fright probably made them think that they were hallucinating. I mean, humans aren't supposed to be able to control Lightning."

"Let's hope." Ritsuko sighed. "I really can't deal with the drama that may come from this."

"Alright, later we'll talk when you come from school." Ryouhei said.

Hakase nodded. "Although we might go to an amusement park after, depends on Ryouta's mood."

Ryouhei groaned. "You two sure know how to milk a parent's pocket."

…

Ryouta woke up to find an empty space beside him.

"Didn't I fall asleep on the chair last night?"

With a sigh, he then headed to the bathroom and proceeded to freshen up. But the events of yesterday were fresh in his mind and he felt terrible about it. Especially about Hakase's hands. Because of him, the boy's hands had to be treated and wrapped in bandage until doctors say when. After he left the bathroom, he got dressed and sat on his bed in deep thought. He wasn't a Water Mage so he couldn't heal Hakase's hands like his mother and Ryouji would.

Just then, a thought entered his mind. He got up and walked into the adjacent room and poured some Mana into the magic circle on the floor. It's been a while since he last spoke to Ryouji, and he decided that maybe now was a good time. He glanced at the clock and twisted his face. He was not going to school today, no way.

When he saw the scene within the magic circle, he began to call out, hoping that someone (preferably someone who knew about his predicament) came. He continued to call two more times, until a face came into view. Immediately, his face brightened.

" _You brat. What do you want?"_

"Stop being like that, Ji-nii. Haven't you missed me?" Ryouta pouted.

" _As if."_ Ryouji snorted. _"So, what do you want?"_

"I want your help. I want some ointment for burns." Ryouta said.

" _For what? I'm pretty sure you can't hurt yourself in that backward world."_

"That's right, but my magic got out of control and I burnt Mahiro's hands. I can't bear to see him suffering like this." Ryouta confessed. But he saw Ryouji's face covered with confusion.

" _How did your magic get out of control? That's impossible, isn't it?"_

"A fool unknowingly dredged up my past trauma." He deadpanned.

Ryouji nearly screamed. _"No one's dead, right?!"_

"Nope. That's where Mahiro came in."

" _Thank God,"_ Ryouji sighed in relief. " _Give me a few minutes."_

The older blond then disappeared from view and the Prince leaned backwards to ease his back. Talking while bending over like that is really annoying. Soon, there was a magic circle on the left wall and immediately he ran towards it. What seemed to be a water-wisp emerged from the magic circle carrying a white container. Ryouta quickly took it, after which the water receded through the magic circle and Ryouji's face came up.

" _Heeh? It actually works like the one on the floor."_ Ryouji said in slight surprise. _"Let's talk through this one instead. My back was killing me."_

"Ha!" Ryouta laughed. "I was thinking the same thing!"

" _Well, I have to go. But Otouto,"_ Ryouji said in a serious tone. _"You've got to communicate with us more often. Ryouta is going to need your help and I'm pretty sure that you'll need his."_

"Hai, Hai." Ryouta nodded, waving his hands in front of him. "Tell Mom and Dad hello for me. And Ryou-nii."

" _I will."_

With that Ryouta got up and left with the container. He practically flew down the stairs to find Hakase busying himself in the kitchen. He was pushing buttons on the microwave quite slowly, wincing as he did so. Without hitch, Ryouta grabbed Hakase and spun him around to face him.

"It's too early to be this aggressive!" Hakase snapped. "Good morning to you too, you bastard!"

"I'm not aggressive, it's my nature." Ryouta smirked as he placed the container on the table and opened the lid. Wordlessly, he ripped off the bandage from Hakase's hands and started to apply the ointment gently. With every rub, Hakase saw it glow a bright colour, and a cool feeling erupted in his palm. Frightened, Hakase involuntarily retracted his hand, but upon seeing the Prince's face he quickly stretched out his hand.

After a couple minutes, the Prince was done and Hakase's hands were completely healed.

"Where did you get this from?" he asked, examining his hands.

"From my world of course." Ryouta grinned. "I spoke with Ji-nii and asked him for it. It's my fault you were injured anyway, so I thought that I should at least find a way to heal you."

Hakase blushed with embarrassment. "You're too kind." He knew he was glossing over something important, but at the moment, he couldn't be bothered.

Ryouta smiled and flipped his hair. "Of course I am! I have a conscience, you know? Plus, I can't let anything happen to my precious housewife! How am I supposed to eat?!"

"You bastard."

"I love you, Mahiro~!" The Prince sang as he skipped into the living room.

"Don't go sit there! Get dressed for school!"

"I don't want to!" He pouted. "Your school has nothing to teach me! I'm fluent in five languages including English, I can complete all the exercises in your math book, I know ―"

"That's not the point. High school is mandatory. Plus, it isn't all about work. What about extra-curricular activities? Since Coach Takeuchi may suspend practice today, we can always go check out other clubs. Plus, we could go to the amusement park. What do you say?"

The Prince grinned. "Let's try out the clubs first. I want to go to the amusement place on a free day!"

Hakase chuckled and shook his head. _Kise-san, I pray for your pocket._

 _xxxx_

After Ryouji had finished talking with Ryouta, he left the room and headed to his. Both he and Ryouma had arrived home from school a couple minutes earlier. The King had left for the hospital with Kise, for some reason, regarding his regulator. But he didn't care about that. It was what Kise told them in club today. Although there are many sides to a story, hearing Kise's case was enough. He was like a newborn child, who saw the entire world and people without filters. And as such, if he says that he feels like something's wrong, then something must be damn wrong.

Ryouji had used his connections so as to find out who this "Shirotsuchi Kaito" was. He even asked Hikaru for assistance, and the information he got was quite surprising. His name "Kaito" was no alias, but he had no surname. The picture on the file looked like the Kaito at school, but he needed more information.

There was a vague of record of his birthplace, being listed as the Kaijou Kingdom. There was no specific city; his family records were also nonexistent, his birth year was blank, in short, Kaito just _existed_. It almost seemed as though he appeared one day out of the blues.

"Would Papa know anything more?" Ryouji said in thought. "Or perhaps Uncle Kouhei?"

This was bugging the Second Prince greatly, since there seemed to be a threat looming over Kise's head. He remembered when Ryouta was kidnapped and he wouldn't want Kise to go through something like that. The Third Prince had become an insomniac, refused to eat, and would never go near anything related to water. That said, whenever he or Queen Ritsuko used their magic, the boy would cower in fear and release his magic in order to defend himself. It was awful, that dreadful experience had turned his little brother into something short of a monster.

He then took out his phone and messaged Shigehiro. She was the only who had the same form-room as Kise, and who shared the same Magic classes. He'd have to inform her to not leave "Kaito" with Kise alone. Ever.

…

The drive to the hospital was quiet; Kise sat in the passenger seat next to the King who was driving. Kise was shocked when he saw the two cars come to pick them up from school, one for the other two Princes and the other was for him. It wasn't until he entered the car that he saw his new father sitting cross-legged and looking at his phone. Kise was then informed that they were going to hospital, but he never received any more information.

"So, am I sick or something?" Kise asked. He didn't like to be ignorant.

"Oh! Right, I forgot that I didn't tell you." King Ryouhei chuckled. "You remember when the regulator was placed around your neck, right?"

"Yeah," Kise subconsciously touched where it was. It was in the colour to match his skin, so that people won't notice it's there.

"Well, there's another type of regulator. One that's engraved on the skin."

Kise shivered as this reminded him of a tattoo. But, he had a feeling of where this conversation was going. "And you want to use that one?"

The King chuckled upon seeing Kise's face. "Yes, I believe it's safer and will cause fewer problems to worry about. While the one on your neck is engineered by our best, I can't help this lingering fear that someone may end up ripping it off."

"So why didn't you use this tattoo-like one in the first place?" While Kise understood the King's reasoning, if this regulator was better, why wait until now?

The King was silent for a while before he sighed. "The first reason was because we thought that we could've gotten my son back in time. The second reason was because the data was being compiled. I'm not going to use something that hasn't been tested nor has any proof that it's safe."

"So…you never knew about it prior?"

"Nope! While I've heard that our engineers and scientists were working on a new type of regulator, I never had the chance to see it or read about its details. I've got bigger fish to fry, you know?" his face then darkened, "Like those scheming motherfuckers from Touou."

"I see." Kise nodded. "So, I'm going to get that tattooed today?" He completely ignored the last part of the sentence.

King Ryouhei laughed. "It's not a tattoo. And if you want, you could get it today. You're the Third Prince of Kaijou, like hell they'll tell you 'no'." he then added, "But if you want to postpone, you could ask as many questions as your brain can churn out about it."

"Ah…" Kise didn't even know how to reply. He didn't mind this newer form of regulator, but he didn't mind the one he had on. As a matter of fact, there were times when he forgot that he had something around his neck. Even when he was showering, he doesn't feel it there at all. But, taking the King's words into consideration, he decided that he'll get the new one after all. He had to be cautious, especially since Kaito seems to be strangely attracted to him, and not in the good way.

A couple minutes later, upon reaching the hospital, King Ryouhei and Kise were immediately whisked away by a nurse to the doctor's office. On their way, numerous workers greeted them with respectful bows but didn't address them by their titles. It was probably due to patients being there although the King was known by everyone in the Kingdom.

When they had finally reached the office, they were greeted by a female doctor who Kise immediately recognized as the one who treated him before ―Mizutani Ayane.

"Greetings, Your Majesty, Your Highness." She said with a bow.

"Greetings," King Ryouhei said with a short bow. Kise followed after as he didn't know what to do. But, he still found it strange, being that people address him as "Your Highness". It was an astronomical leap from his usual "Kise-kun".

"Shall we get into the meat of the matter, Your Highness?" Ayane said with a smile as she looked at Kise. The blond nodded.

Ayane then opened her drawer and took out a small box. It was the size of the King's palm and Kise blanched, thinking that the size of the design was going to be that big. However, when she opened the box, Kise sighed a relief. The design wasn't as big as he'd thought prior; its circumference would be equal to or half a size bigger than the rings on his fingers. The intricate design on the inside of the circle was comparable to a magic circle; however, there were a few differences.

Unlike magic circles that have the kanji or rune-like symbols for their uses, this regulator had ornate designs that seemed like a freeform. There were no distinct feature, or distinct point of activation…it just looked like some neatly drawn lines with dark circles at their tips.

"How will you implement this?" Kise was curious.

"We'll take you to the operating room, and administer anaesthesia. Once you're unconscious, we'll start." Ayane responded.

"And where will you place this exactly?"

"On your nape. Your hair will hide it perfectly."

Kise nodded his understanding. "So, when can I get this over with?"

"I will do it at your convenience."

"Then, let's go."

 _xxxx_

 _[Back on Earth]..._

The school day progressed smoothly, with the exception of worried teachers and students asking Hakase and Ryouta if everything was alright. The incident in the gym came on the news, so almost everyone had seen it. For those who didn't see it there, had a couple friends or two who blogged about it online. In essence, _everyone knew about it._

Ryouta was calm this time around, as he was getting in the groove of not only Kise's behaviour at school, but he as getting accustomed to all the attention.

He never spoke during classes unless he had to, hell, he never really paid attention. He still had the manual that Hakase gave him and he read that through his classes. Learning about basketball and saving Kise's reputation was far important than paying attention in a class that could teach him nothing.

And as such, by the time the end of the school day came, the Prince was in high spirits. Hakase told him that they could visit the other clubs, and before he left, he did some research on the sporting activities on Earth. He was appalled by the sheer number, and didn't even get to look at them all.

"So, which one do you want to visit first?" Hakase asked as they sat in the classroom. The teacher had already left.

"Volleyball!" the Prince perked. "It seems interesting!"

"Okay, let's go crash the volleyball club's practice." Hakase said with a chuckle. He didn't even inquire whether or not the Prince knew the rules of the sport; this was a one-time thing only. Since they didn't have basketball practice, he thought that he'd maybe introduce the Prince to the other sports that the school had to offer.

The two boys made their way quickly to the volleyball gym, and upon opening the gym doors, they saw that the boys were immersed in their practice. Catching the look on the coach's face, Hakase didn't want to disrupt them. He seemed like the type to chew anyone's head off at the slightest irritation.

Hakase then looked across to Ryouta. There's no way he'd make the two meet. That'll just spell disaster.

"Let's go, Ryouta. We'll come back later." He said as he moved off. However, they stopped in their tracks when they stumbled upon a boy behind them.

"Are you interested in volleyball?"

He was a tall youth, almost as tall as the Prince with jet-black hair done in the short sides and back haircut. However, he has a long front fringe which is swept to the left and hangs over his left eye. His eyes are a blazing red. While Hakase wasn't a part of the volleyball team, he knew the teen that was in front of them. He was a second year and the vice-captain of the team ―Maeda Tae Syun.

He's never spoken to Tae Syun before, but he's heard other students saying that he's cold and distant and all that melancholy loner drama. However, one thing he does know is that Tae Syun has fangirls as well. They might not come close to Kise's amount, but there was still a lot. The black-haired teen was not bad looking, if anything, he was hot. And like Kise, he attracted them like moths to a flame.

"Yes we are." Ryouta answered in a friendly tone. But Hakase knew that he was far from it.

"Oh, well sorry to burst your bubble, but we'll be having a practice match today." The teen replied. "You'll have to try tomorrow. I can talk to Coach for you."

"That's ―" Hakase didn't even get to finish his sentence.

"Sure!" Ryouta squealed in delight. "You hear that, Mahiro! We'll get to play tomorrow!"

Tae Syun raised his eyebrows in confusion. He recognized Ryouta as the ace of the basketball club, so he wondered what he was doing here. Being a prodigy in basketball doesn't mean that one can duplicate that in another sport. So, he ended up asking,

"Why are you here though?"

"Huh?"

"I know that you're the ace of the basketball club, what compelled you to try out volleyball?"

Ryouta shrugged. "I want to try out all the sports at school! I like having fun!"

"I see."

"Maeda! What are you doing?!" a roar from inside the gym took the boys from their little chat. All eyes looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was the coach of the club. He seemed a bit irritated, probably he has been watching them for a while; who knows?

"I'm coming coach." Tae Syun said as he made his way inside. Ryouta and Hakase followed and this caused many eyebrows to rise.

"What are you two doing here?" the Coach asked.

"They want to try out volleyball, so I told them to return tomorrow." Tae Syun said in a monotone.

The coach looked a bit perplexed. The entire school knows about Kise Ryouta, the famous teen model and prodigious basketball player. Hence, the Coach didn't know the reason for the ace of the basketball club to turn up in the volleyball gym.

"You want to try out volleyball?" The Coach asked. "Have you ever played before?"

"Nope!" The Prince replied with a perk.

"I can toss. Put me as setter and I'm fine. Anything else and I'm completely useless." Hakase said. He didn't try to evade it, as he knew that the Prince would definitely rope him in one way or the other.

The coach was not amused. While he could pardon Hakase, Ryouta…not so much. He was already good in basketball, why would he suddenly want to take up volleyball, a sport he knows nothing about?

"Are you serious? You can't play the sport?" Tae Syun said in surprise. Even though he was surprised, his voice was calm. "I thought you had some knowledge."

"Of course not. I play basketball, remember?" Ryouta smiled. The other members were looking on in shock.

The Coach then turned on his heel and said, "We're going to be playing a practice match. If you're interested, you could watch on the sidelines, if not, you're free to leave."

So, the boys walked towards the wall and not long after, the opposing team had arrived. After everyone was changed and the court was set up, the volleyball match commenced. Strangely to Hakase, Ryouta was watching with keen attention. His brown eyes seemed to glow with a bright yellow, but nothing could have made the boy lose focus.

Whenever the boys did something that he didn't know about (which was almost everything), he'd ask Hakase to tell him what those moves were and how they are used. He asked about the different spikes ―cross, straights, and feints. He inquired about the serves ―jump float and such; he asked about almost everything.

Hakase answered his questions to the best of his abilities, since this was a sport that he was quite knowledgeable in. His older brother ―Masahiro has always played the sport, so at home; Hakase was always used as the setter for his brother's spikes. In times when Masahiro brought home friends, Hakase was used as the referee, so he eventually, he ended up learning the rules of the sport as well. In short, Hakase was like a volleyball player who never set foot on a court.

"I see!" Ryouta was beaming with excitement. He was extremely jittery, eager to head out onto the court. It reminded him of when he first discovered basketball; Ryouta had seemed like a baby who had just received a new toy. It was quite adorable.

…

When the match ended, Kaijou had emerged the victor. Looking across, Tae Syun saw that the two boys were still there, Ryouta looked like he had stars in his eyes. With a sigh, he walked over to them and asked,

"How did you like it?" He wasn't one to initiate a conversation, but he'll make an exception just this once.

"Like it? It was fun!" Ryouta beamed. Tae Syun stepped back with his hands in front of him. "How you slammed the ball into ground like 'bam!' and how the other guys flew like 'whoosh' and ―"

"He loved it." Hakase said as he clasped a hand over his mouth. He then grabbed the Prince by the collar to leave. "We'll come back tomorrow, if we don't have basketball.

"I see."

With that, the two exited the gym, Ryouta whining about wanting to stay.

…

"Mahiro," Ryouta called as they made their way to the science block.

"Hmm?"

"What's the guy's name? The one who talked to us."

"Maeda Tae Syun. He's a second year."

"Tay-Suyon? Is he a foreigner?"

"It isn't Su-Yon. It's just S-Yun, if that's better." Hakase sighed. But, this was a normal occurrence. Tae Syun's name was misspelled and mispronounced numerous times that the boy himself gave up. "It's spelt T-A-E S-Y-U-N."

"Oh…he _is_ a foreigner."

"I don't know. All we know is that he's adopted. Where he came from prior to that is a mystery."

"But why does the entire school know that he's adopted?"

Hakase sighed. The Prince was extremely inquisitive today. "It's as you said, no one in Japan has that kind of name unless they're mixed or something. So students ask him and well…"

"So he doesn't mind that people know he's adopted? Isn't he teased?"

"Teased!? Pfft!" Hakase burst with laughter. "One can only tease Maeda-senpai if you're seeking death!" But, he calmed down. "What's with the sudden curiosity?"

"It's just that I've never met a "Maeda Tae-Syun" in my world before. So I was kinda wondering. A lot of the students here have familiar faces, and I've yet to see some members of my club but that's the least. Add to that, he's a second year. I know a lot of students from first year to third year and fifth year."

"That's why you thought he was a foreigner? Makes sense." Hakase nodded. "But he has been living in Kanagawa, or so he says, and he's been coming to Kaijou ever since first year."

"Mah," Ryouta shrugged. "Let's just leave it be. They say curiosity kills the cat, some mysteries are best left unsolved."

"That's right."

The two then finally reached the science block and climbed the stairs to Hakase's clubroom.

* * *

 _ **Thank you all for reading! Don't forget to leave a review!**_


	14. Metamorphosis

**_A/N: Thank you all for your faves, follows and reviews!_**

 ** _Enjoy!_**

* * *

Chapter 14

 _Metamorphosis_

…

 _[In Sekai, while the King drove Kise to the hospital]_

On this particular evening, three people ―two males and a female could be seen enjoying their pastry and coffee at an outdoor gazebo. Behind them was a large log cabin house and dense forestry.

The dark haired male was dressed semi-casually ―a light coloured jeans pants and a dress shirt. The blond male next to him was dressed casually, wearing a t-shirt with jeans and sneakers. The female who faced them had long black hair which extends down her back; behind her lenses were a pair of closed eyes that resembles a fox. She was in a school uniform ―a dark blue blazer over a white shirt with a red striped tie and black pleated skirt. Her white socks extended up to her knees.

"How long has it been since our last meeting?" the dark haired man asked while sipping on his coffee.

"Just a week and a couple days." Blond said with nonchalance. "Don't be so dramatic Katsunori."

Katsunori put down his cup on the saucer and leaned back in his chair. "I assume that the plan is ready to be launched?" His tone had changed from the somewhat playful to a more serious one. "After all, you've asked for Shouichi and the rest of my students." Katsunori glanced at the female at their table. She seemed as though she was ignoring them, as she quietly sipped her drink and ate cake.

Blond nodded. "Though I must admit, ever since the creature attacked Ryouta, things have been a little strange." He said whilst placing an elbow on the table. He twirled the coffee in his cup before taking yet another sip. "But, it's all the better for us."

"Hmm?" Shouichi said as she pushed down her glasses. She cracked an eye open to look at the blond man as that sentence had piqued her interest. "How so, Konan-kun?" Katsunori nodded to indicate that he wanted to know as well.

'Konan' smirked. "It seems that Ryouta has amnesia. Add to that, his amnesia is so far gone that he has to relearn how to use his weapons and magic." He replied. "Ryouhei announced that it was because of the creature but obviously, that's a lie."

"That's right. Our creature wasn't equipped with such ability." Katsunori said. "I wonder what caused it, and why is the King hiding it?"

Shouichi poked at her cherry before sticking it with her fork. She then pointed at the two men with the cherry facing them, "I don't care what caused his amnesia. Right now, he's vulnerable isn't he? I think we should take the time to strike and take Kaijou while we still can. The quicker we snatch the Third Prince, the quicker we can use him to get Kaijou."

"Calm down Shouichi. Given the current situation, you'll never see Ryouta alone. He's always with either Ryouma or Ryouji or both. When he isn't, he's with the King or Queen, or his bodyguards. And neither of these people is to be taken lightly."

"So what plan do you have in mind?" Shouichi asked in a curious tone. "You know, if the plan fails, security will get even tighter and ―"

"Don't worry, Shouichi." 'Konan' smirked. "Soon, the first and second year students will be going on a field trip to the Stone Forest and the Stone Plains."

"So what of it?" She asked, a bit irritated.

"We simply strike then." 'Konan' looked across to Katsunori. "I'll enter the Barrier Tower to disable the protection. However, to prevent any suspicion, we'll be attacked and knocked unconscious."

"Right, that's where I send in my precious students." Katsunori nodded.

"Exactly, but you can't kill anyone because if I'm left alive, you know how that'll end." Konan continued, "While the barrier is down, that'll give the beasts chances to attack the students. In the midst of the chaos, we can catch Ryouta."

"Wait, aren't the savage beasts usually far away from the barrier?" Katsunori asked. "Or is it that we have to incite the beasts beforehand to have them enter the areas around the barrier?"

"Very much so, Katsunori."

"But if the plan fails?" Shouichi asked, leaning forwards. "I mean, the moment the teachers realize that the barrier is down, won't they call for assistance?"

'Konan' shrugged. "If the plan fails, that'll be where you come in."

Shouichi's eyebrows rose. "Hoh? Do tell."

…

After King Ryouhei dropped off Kise at home from the hospital, he drove to the Stone Forest. The forest was on the outskirts of the capital, but this forest was among the few that had a protective barrier to ward off Bakemono and the wild animals that lurk about. After leaving the city, King Ryouhei drove on the straight corridor which led directly there. The drive was peaceful, although he was a bit annoyed that his bodyguards were driving beside him. He felt like he was being sandwiched.

After bending a corner, the King spotted the majestic forest, standing tall like a fortress. The road had ended, which meant that one would have to proceed to the forest on foot. It wasn't that far a walk anyway. Hopping out of his car and telling his bodyguards to be on the alert, King Ryouhei headed into the forest.

The trees at the front reminded him of a stone wall of a city, while the ones behind them were so tall that they seemed like towers. Even the entrance was similar to a vaulted access gate of ancient times. The King hummed as he made his way further inwards, keeping on the path he was on.

This wasn't the first time he's been here, and as long he's ruling and "White Canvas" continues to live here, then this visit surely won't be his last. Only two of his guards followed after him, but when they reached a fork in the path where the white earth began, they had to wait while the King went on ahead.

Choosing the left path, the King took in the beautiful sight as he went along. Gems embedded within the pristine white stone trees sparkled ceaselessly, creating a dazzling array of colours. Beautiful flowers of different colours lined the pathway, as if guiding the King to his destination.

Soon, he entered a clearing and saw "White Canvas" sitting on a chair that resembled his throne.

"So, what information do you have for me this time, Your Majesty?" the Earth Seirei said in a joking manner.

King Ryouhei walked up to the Seirei and his spatial ring glimmered. A sealed envelope materialized and was handed to him. "Things are getting dangerous again; more than likely, people are planning to target you. _Again._ " The King sounded a bit irritated. "I'm sick of it."

"Well as long as they know I'm here, they'll keep coming like the fools they are." He got up and stretched. "You know, Ryouhei-san," the Seirei began. "I'm thinking of going somewhere where no one will ever find me, or even suspect that I'm there. I'm tired of being chased, and I want some entertainment. Sekai is quite boring, you know?" He seemed a bit wistful here, his red eyes downcast as if studying the bugs crawling on the ground.

The King raised an eyebrow. "I've realized." But then he asked, "Where do you plan to go? You said you wanted entertainment but you've acknowledged that Sekai is boring."

"I know." "White Canvas" replied. "But I've already found my hiding place. It should be worthwhile."

King Ryouhei could only nod. Seirei were sometimes eccentric and hard to understand, so he left it at that. Even though he was itching to enquire about it, he didn't.

As if being able to read the King's expression, "White Canvas" said, "I'll still be in Kaijou. Of all the six countries on this continent, Kaijou is the only one who doesn't yearn after my power."

"Well…" King Ryouhei started but couldn't finish. It was a fact that his Kingdom never tried to coerce the Seirei into joining the Self-Defence Force, or creating more fertile lands for agriculture or whatever the needs are. The Kings and Queens of past generations have always treated not just "White Canvas" but all other Seirei like their Ningen citizens. They had freedom of choice and speech and everything under the sun. In other countries, like Rakuzan and Touou, their Seirei were enlisted in their Armies and serve as their rulers' supreme bodyguard.

"It's probably because of the Kise family's barbaric nature!" the Seirei then howled with laughter. He doubled over and clutched his abdomen. "Who needs Seirei when an entire family is capable of toppling countries? Like, you blonds are nothing but walking weapons of mass destruction!"

King Ryouhei spluttered indignantly, " _Barbaric_?! Walking weapons of mass destruction?!How could you come to such a conclusion?" His Lightning was crackling around his body, "Enlighten me, you son of a bitch." he said between gritted teeth in an attempt to suppress his rage.

"Woah, woah, calm down, boy." The Seirei said with a gesture. "I've watched the Kise family for generations, and it's in your genes. There hasn't been a single generation that didn't cause the large scale destruction of somewhere." He chuckled. "The moment you savage blonds get angry, you use your Lightning to take down every and anything that comes across your path. Remember six years ago? Am I right or Am I right?" He then added, "I know I'm right."

"Then why ask?" the King murmured with a huff. He knew that the Seirei was right. A steady silence followed after before the King piped up, "If we're done, then I have to go back. My wife is cooking tonight."

"Yeah, see you later!" "White Canvas" said. "And message me sometimes! Not only when you have info to give me!"

King Ryouhei sighed. "I'm a busy man these days. Ryouta was attacked and a bunch of crazy things have been happening since." He let out a groan. "I think I need a vacation."

"White Canvas" only gave a knowing smile. "That's the life of a King."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Oh!" the Earth Seirei perked up. "Before I forget, I'm thinking of doing Divine Possession. No one will find me then."

The King halted. "Divine Possession? Isn't that where you live inside someone's mind or something like that?" His eyes were widened with surprise. "Isn't that close to being permanent until death? Why don't you form a contract instead?"

"White Canvas" frowned. "A contract is temporary and I'd have to re-form another one later on if I do it. Plus, I have to get the other party's permission. That's a hassle."

"So, you're just going to invade the person's body and stay there until they die?" King Ryouhei said with a monotone. "I feel sorry for the poor soul who caught your eye." He dropped some sarcasm here.

"Don't worry about it! It _is_ going to be interesting. And I'm _not_ invading anyone's body! I'm just moving in! Plus, it's not like they won't be compensated!"

"Compensated?"

"Yeah, with Divine Possession, a Ningen is able to use the Seirei's magic without having the Seirei completely take them over."

"Really?" King Ryouhei was astonished. He's heard of Divine Possession but he's never heard of this part. But he still wondered why would the Earth Seirei tell him this? It isn't like he told him who he's going to be "possessing".

"Yup! Now run along! I wouldn't want your wife to flood this entire place just because I made you miss dinner." He said while shooing him away.

"Hai, hai."

…

Kise crashed into his bed face-first and rubbed his neck where the 'new type' of regulator had been placed or in his opinion "tattooed". The process was a fairly simple one, and was reminiscent of how people got their tattoos on Earth; however, there was one thing completely different.

Instead of using a pen and ink, the doctor had placed what seemed to be a "clear sticker" over the area, and took up what looked like a stylus. Then, she scooted over a table where a holography of Kise's nape was projected and drew the design onto the projection. And as she did so, the "clear sticker" on Kise's neck glowed with the design that Ayane was drawing. It then imprinted on Kise's skin. Due to the blond ace being unconscious he never felt a thing, but when he woke up, his neck felt like it was cooling from being on fire earlier.

He turned on his back and held his old regulator. He inspected it and found that it was laden with the intricate designs like that on his nape. He then proceeded to store it within his spatial ring and stared at the ceiling.

Ever since he came to this world, his life has been turned upside down. The first thing was that this world has magic and all sorts of mythical creatures and strange landscapes. Sekai was actually fascinating, and the only places that he's read about was only on this continent. He couldn't wait to see what the rest of the world looked like.

The second thing was that he's now a Prince. So far he hasn't been educated about any special code of conduct, but seeing how the Royal Family operates, Kise deemed that they didn't have to behave a certain way. Add to that, if they didn't get back the original Prince, he'd be in charge of the entire Self-Defence Force.

Kise jumped up.

He realized that he knew nothing of about their Defence Force. But as fast as he rose up, he lied back down making a mental note to do that some other time. He found it hard to sleep, and soon his mind drifted to what happened in club today.

The moment he touched Kaito's hand there was a strange feeling. He couldn't tell Ryouji and Ryouma exactly what the feeling was, but the closest was like something meandering its way around his system. After a minute, the feeling had completely disappeared, but he fretted that something may have lingered.

Ayane didn't find anything strange with him, so maybe…

"Gah!" Kise sprang out of bed and went to the window. It made no sense to deliberate on something that had no answer. Well, Kaito seemed to have the answer but it doesn't look he'll answer anything truthfully.

He leaned on the window sill and enjoyed the refreshing breeze that blew. He stared up at the beautiful star-studded sky, amazed by its beauty. Unlike Earth where the stars were one colour, the ones here radiated a myriad of them. A few had a lustrous green colour; some were a dazzling yellow and blinding orange. It was a beautiful sight, resembling gems embedded in the dark roof of a cave. Immediately, Kise whipped out his (new) phone and took pictures. A part of him planned to show it to his friends and family back home, some way somehow.

Kise stood there in amazement for quite a while until he felt a sudden prickling sensation in his limbs. The feeling was that of tiny needles being poked constantly at him and while it didn't hurt, it was annoying. He began stretching, thinking that his muscles were numb from earlier today. The feeling didn't cease, and it was making Kise extremely uncomfortable. He moved towards his bed, but with every step, it felt like a million tiny swords were piercing his foot.

"Oh shit…" He mumbled. He had an idea of what was happening to him. He felt as though there was turmoil within his body. It was as though there was a sharp razor-like tornado surging around, ripping and tearing his muscles and bones as it wreaked havoc. However, as soon as his muscles and bones were ripped apart, an unknown substance filled the gap and created a somewhat soothing sensation.

Kise slumped against the wall and closed his eyes while doing breathing exercises. The feeling was painful but it wasn't excruciating like when he had the headache. After what seemed like an eternity, the pain finally subsided, but Kise felt like his muscles were pulsating from being numbed.

Getting up onto his feet, he headed towards the door. He grabbed the knob and pushed, but what happened next left Kise frightened, but neither Ken nor Kibou looked the least fazed. The door was on the floor, beautifully ripped from its hinges with its crushed knob dangling haphazardly.

"Ryouta-sama," Ken said with a drawl. "Are you excited to go somewhere? It's night time, though."

But, Kise didn't answer. He could only stare at the door in shock. But that didn't last long as his family rushed out upon hearing the noise.

"What's with racket?" King Ryouhei asked. But when he saw Kise on the floor with the door in front of him, he didn't know what to think. He then looked to Kibou who had a disinterested look on his face.

"Kibou, it's not alarming right?" he asked. Ryouji and Ryouma had already gone to Kise and were firing off questions.

"No, Kise-sama." Kibou responded. "He broke down his door while exiting."

The King's lips trembled as though he wanted to tear up. With a dash, he embraced Kise in a hug. His other sons wondered what the reason was.

"Finally, I can start teaching you how to use the other spears. We're going to have so much fun."

Kise wanted to cry, not because the strange prickling feeling was irritating, but what he knew was in store for him.

…

The following day, after Kise woke up, freshened up and had breakfast, King Ryouhei didn't hesitate to teach him how to use the other spears. During this time, Kise learned that these spears had "names" so to speak. Well, the King told him that every weapon manufactured had a serial number, but because the Royal Family's weapons were one-of-a-kind, they had to give them "names". In Kise's spatial ring, there were six different spears, with the Twin Spears counted as one.

On that note, Kise found that the Twin Spears that he'd been using all along were called " _Benevolence"_ and was primarily used in narrow spaces and on smaller sized Bakemono. But, as of now, the King was teaching Kise how to use the long spear (which was identical to the King's) which was called " _Kaizer"_ and was the Prince's primary weapon. Learning to use a weapon that was taller than him was no easy feat. Add to that, due to its rigidity, Kise couldn't use much of his Martial Arts as with the Benevolence.

But that didn't deter him. Using his Copy ability, Kise learnt the forms and katas quite fast only to twist these forms and katas to his liking. Due to him being in basketball, he's more accustomed to moving with agility and not rigidity. King Ryouhei assists him as well, however, given the size of the spear Kise could alter so much and no more.

…

At school, Kise really had fun. One thing he was glad for, unlike Earth, they didn't receive any homework. Instead, they utilized what they learn in class in club activities, and with lovely incentives from the Military and Police force, students at Kaijou Kōtōgakkō and Daigaku are more than willing to work.

Although Kise had lots of things to catch up on, he really didn't mind. He manages to get through all his classes without raising suspicion or any issues, but one thing he couldn't escape from was the constant pestering of his piercings. Apparently, the real Prince has four while he has only one. To fix this, Ryouji had gotten him some clip-ons, and from that day, the questions stopped.

He even met the Hakase Mahiro of this world, and found that he wasn't much different from the one on Earth. But what Kise found that really hurt, was that they weren't best friends in this world. They were close, but not to the level of the one on Earth.

In club, Kise divulged all the information he knew about Elemental Combinations to Riko, who then distributed them to the rest of the club members. If Kaito wasn't present, then Kise would have been free talk without restrictions. But given that the white-haired boy was present, he has to be careful not to make any slip-ups.

But ever since Kise had that weird feeling from shaking Kaito's hand, the boy hadn't done anything to him. In fact, he got on friendly terms with Kise, but not too friendly that would make the blond ace even more suspicious.

"Kirishima-kun?"

"Huh?" Kise, who had been staring outside the window, was jolted by a call. It was none other than Kaito. "Is there something you need?"

"I've been wondering, why is it that you're sitting here looking aimless?" he asked. Kaito then smirked. "Thinking of a foolproof scheme to win Tetsuya's heart?"

"That's right." Kise answered with a deadpan. But the fact was, Kise couldn't join in because he can't control the magic from the ring as well as the others could. After all, he was still being taught.

"Hmm…" Kaito hummed. "I see."

Just as he got up and left from Kise, the clubroom door opened to reveal Ryouji and Ryouma. They had their primary club to attend first, since Seirin was formed last year. But when they saw what was happening in the room, their faces were twisted with confusion.

"I'm pretty sure we'll be getting an explanation, right?" Ryouma said. His eyes darting around the room to see Ice balls here and there, splotches of mud over by the back corner, sand gathering at the front table…

"Ryouta's idea." Everyone replied and proceeded to continue with their activity.

Seeing the malicious glint in his brothers' eyes, Kise knew he was in for a warm time.

"Give me a break." He groaned out.

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review!**_


	15. The Misadventures of Kaijou

_**A/N: Thank you for all your reviews, faves and follows!**_

 _ **Merci beaucoup DGM!**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

* * *

Chapter 15

 _The Misadventures of Kaijou at Fuji-Q Highland Amusement Park._

…

 _[Meanwhile the King was conversing with the Seirei]…_

By the time the next day came around, Ryouta (who brought Hakase and Kaijou along) tried out the other clubs. Just as they'd promised, they had returned to the volleyball club and by the time they were done, the members were all hounding them to join. While their skills weren't outstanding, Hakase's tosses were good. With proper and adequate training, he'd be a force to reckon with.

Ryouta, on the other hand, everything he did was a disaster. His postures were terrible, and he didn't even know the first rule of the sport. However, his spikes were unstoppable. The Coach saw that his jump height was above the blockers' reach, and his spikes were so powerful that the ball was embedded in the floor and ultimately, it had burst due to the impact.

To test out his theory, the Coach had Ryouta serve the ball. What had happened next, left the entire gym gaping. The ball flew with such a speed that it resembled a blur, and when it crashed into the floor, a loud sound like thunder sounded. At this, Hakase face palmed. But, as he saw the Prince have a look of shock, he inquired about it; Ryouta had told him that he had held back, but was still frightened that this was the outcome.

Kaijou, who were watching at the sidelines had to gape at how good Hakase was in the sport. They lamented that he wasn't that good in basketball, but each Jack to his own Trade.

After they left the volleyball club, they headed to the tennis club and yet again, the Prince created a stir. No ball managed to escape him since he was fast enough to catch them. But when he returned the ball to the other side of the net, the other party couldn't stop it.

The next club Ryouta wanted to see was the baseball club. Hakase had refused at the outset, but seeing the look on Ryouta's face, he gave in. And like the two previous clubs, he overshadowed the members. He tried pitching, although he quickly learned the form, he was unable reproduce it right away.

It was then that Hakase and the regulars realized that unlike Kise who had the Copy ability, the Prince only learns the theory behind the things fast. He lacks the polish that comes after continued practice.

But even so, his pitching was dangerous. He'd only stand and throw the ball towards the catcher, but the poor batsmen couldn't discern the ball for their lives. Ryouta continued to demolish the baseball club and even the Coach had to wonder, if he couldn't use the proper form to pitch and he was this destructive, he couldn't imagine how dangerous Ryouta would be if he did.

This would make the third sport club after Ryouta.

They then intruded upon rugby. Kasamatsu and Nakamura were against this, being that its simply lawful brawling. Given the Prince's speed and strength, players could end up hurt. But Ryouta didn't care; instead, it excited him even more. Hakase never tried to stop the blond because he needed some time to be free and let loose.

The Coach of the rugby team was against this, since he knew that Kise was a model and it didn't seem like the blond could take a hit. Compared to his students, Ryouta was skinny. Without even getting the man's permission, as soon as the inter-string match began, Ryouta jumped into the fray and like a bulldozer, he thundered through the mass of thick and very muscular boys.

Every jaw dropped at the sight, such a slim and lean boy rendering a bunch of rugby players useless. Even the coach couldn't believe it. No one could stop Ryouta; he was agile, fast, and too damn strong for his body size.

While the club was still in a daze, he had walked up to Hakase and Kaijou and asked with a perk,

"So, where to next?!"

"Football. And that's the last!" Kasamatsu ordered. "Coach is going to kill us when he gets bombarded by all these clubs."

"I know, right?" Kobori said with a sigh. "I can hear him barking at us already."

"And we're not meeting any girls on top of that." Moriyama grumbled.

The others nodded in agreement.

The group then trudged over to the football field and a repeat of what happened in prior clubs occurred. Apart from his speed and agility, Ryouta was useless if another player tackled his feet. But because of said speed, players were left in his dust. And as such, he was often time flagged as off-side.

Another time when players of one team decided to stop him before he escapes, his strength proved to be more than they could handle. With boys grabbing on into his shirt and arms, Ryouta dragged them along, when he noticed that the ball could be easily stolen, he simply kicked the ball to the net.

Of course, chaos ensued; Hakase and Kaijou grabbed Ryouta and fled the scene like criminals evading police.

…

It's been two days since the Preliminaries and Takeuchi hadn't had basketball practice for the boys who had been present. He thought that they'd be a bit shaken by the ordeal, so he decided to give them a break while waiting on the response from the Inter-High Board on when they'd play their match.

But, at the moment, he was immensely irritated.

The coaches from almost all the sports clubs had come to him with proposals (begging, really) for Ryouta (and Hakase in terms of volleyball) to join their club. Of course, Takeuchi had been confused as to why this was happening, but each coach gave their account of his experience with his blond ace.

Takeuchi was obviously not amused.

In fact, he didn't know what to think of this development. He never knew that Hakase could play volleyball, if that was the case, why hadn't he joined the club instead of basketball? But, to get rid of the bickering coaches, he simply told them that he'd think about it and talk it over with the boys in question.

That seemed to calm down the coaches and looking at their faces, Takeuchi saw hope within their eyes. He didn't want to crush them, so he decided that 'Kise' made this mess, he'll be the one to clean it up.

…

After that, Ryouta's life went back to normal (well, as normal as it can be). While at school, he's getting better and better at being Kise, and Hakase was glad for that. He has less stress to worry him, and he can finally relax a little bit. Except for the one time in P.E when Ryouta got overexcited and sped to seven seconds in a hundred metre dash. When Hakase tried to think of a plan to get the Prince out of this mess, his hair turned white immediately.

Their basketball practices resumed, Takeuchi seeming a bit more ruthless this time around. He had spoken to Ryouta and Hakase about their actions which now have the coaches hounding for the both of them.

After basketball practice, the regulars would teach Ryouta about the sport. Overtime, he got better but from what they've noticed prior, he was still far from being like their ace. Ryouta was like an inexperienced child who can only think to use brute force to accomplish his goals, while Kise their ace was like a veteran warrior who can meticulously plan for oncoming warfare.

This was a severe gap in skills that they had to try to work around. Add to that, everyone would be after the Prince the moment he set foot on the court. With their prelim match around the corner, Kaijou had to find a way around this. Fortunately, with Ryouta getting a better grasp of the sport and Hakase acting as manager, the team somehow found a way to put Ryouta's speed and strength to good use.

…

It was finally the day of their rematch with Yokohama Gakuen.

Since it was a re-match of some sorts, they played it on a Saturday, a day where gyms would be vacant and either team would be free. But, sadly for Kaijou's tempestuous Prince, he wasn't able to attend. Kise was a model and while he's in Sekai, Ryouta has to be the one to fill in for him. At first he was pretty upset that he wouldn't have been able to see his Senpai in action (or get some action himself). Ryouhei had dropped off the blond at the shoot site, and stayed. Hakase was attending the basketball match so he couldn't be present at the photoshoot, which made Ryouta quite moody.

Ryouhei wondered how Ryouta managed to get so close to Hakase, and then his mind drifted to the other world. He was worried about Kise, but some of his worry was calmed when Ryouta told him that no harm would come to his son as long as his brothers, his bodyguards and his parents know of the situation. They'll be extremely careful with Kise than they were with him which meant that the blond probably won't have any breathing space.

"Remember, Ryouta," Ryouhei said, holding the boy in his shoulders. "Keep calm and smile when necessary. You said you've done this before, right?"

Ryouta nodded.

"Good. Keep calm boy, keep calm." Ryouhei knew he was being a bit nagging here, but this boy was a bomb he had no idea when he'd go off. So, in order to save his son's job and reputation (and everyone's lives), he's trying everything in his power.

Ryouta cracked him a smile. "Of course I will. If I mess this up, Mahiro will kill me, you know?"

Ryouhei chuckled darkly, "It's not only Hakase-kun who'll kill you."

"Are you ready, Kise-kun?" a photographer asked before Ryouta could respond to his new father.

"Hai~!" Ryouta said as he skipped merrily towards the set. Ryouhei prayed ceaselessly for this to go smoothly.

…

When his photoshoot was over, Ryouhei drove to Fuji-Q Highland amusement park, as Hakase had told him prior that they (and their teammates) were going. The blond was a ball of sunshine ever since he sat in the car, eager to experience "this place of amusement" as he calls it.

For an hour or so Ryouhei drove with Ryouta chatting away on how different Earth was from his world. Although the same places existed in the Kaijou Kingdom, the layout and structures were vastly different. Ryouta questioned Ryouhei nonstop; sometimes the man had to ask him for a break sometimes. But deep down, Ryouhei was somewhat relieved, he remembered Kise being this chatty and inquisitive when he was younger. As a matter of fact, his son still is. On that note, Ryouhei then asked,

"Do you have any idea if my boy will come back to me?" there was a tinge of sadness and hope in his voice.

The Prince froze up for a second. He then turned his face away to look through the window. "I don't know." He lied.

Ryouhei stopped the car suddenly, causing Ryouta to jerk forwards. He turned and looked at the blond boy with a deadpan face. The older Kise had long realized that minus the bad temper and feisty behaviour, the Prince was very similar to his son. At this, Ryouta was fidgety, and refused to look the man in the eyes.

"Are you sure that you have no idea?" Ryouhei questioned again. "I mean, you managed to get here, so I'm pretty sure that there must be a way for you to get back and him to return."

"I…" Ryouta began, but was unable to finish.

Ryouhei sighed. By just that, he already knew that the Prince knew something. And judging by the reaction, more than likely, Ryouta knew how to get back his son. The fact that he's a Prince in his world, his other family must need him back for his duties. Kise was no royalty; they'd obviously need his ass back home.

"Is there something you're not telling me?" Ryouhei asked in a soft voice. He didn't want the boy to get upset and blow them to smithereens. "You can tell me anything."

"I can't." he mumbled.

"Why not?"

"You'll hate me."

"You wanna try?" Ryouta still didn't budge. "If you don't tell me, I won't bring you to the amusement park."

"That's mean!" the young blond whined. "How could you?!"

"Then talk." Ryouhei urged. "Make it quick because Hakase-kun and the others are waiting."

Ryouta frowned. "I don't want to go back. Japan is so much fun while my Kingdom is fucking boring. Minus the fact that I get to slaughter Bakemono and other students who piss me off, Sekai is a world full of boredom." He lamented. "But the main reason is because I don't have any freedom."

"No freedom? In what sense?"

"My future job was determined from the seventh Monarch. I don't want to be the Commander of the Self-Defense Force. I mean, my Uncle's children all get to choose whatever they want to be. It's not fair." He grumbled.

"Oh." Ryouhei said. He never had any first-hand experience with the Prince's situation, but he understood the boy's feelings. "And how many Monarchs does your Kingdom have so far?"

"One hundred and ninety."

Ryouhei whistled in surprise. "That's quite a lot." But then he changed the topic. "I've been wondering, why am I the King and Kouhei is older than me?"

Ryouta shrugged. "I don't know, ask Grandpa Ryoutarou. But neither of you are complaining. If anything, Uncle Kouhei teases you everyday about it. And shows off when he's free and you're not."

"Oh, I see." Ryouta didn't press any further. He then wondered if Ryouta was silently upset that his father was made King instead of his Uncle. But whatever the case is, Ryouhei could feel the boy's pain. He's seen it in media ―movies, dramas, fiction, everywhere really. It's almost as though he doesn't have any control of his own future. It's sad. While, he would like any one of his children to succeed him when he retires, he didn't force them. Ruiko is a fashion designer; Reiko is studying to be a teacher, and his son wanted to be a pilot.

"You're going to force me to go back, aren't you?" Ryouta asked, taking him out of his thoughts.

Ryouhei chuckled. "If I was a powerful Mage." He rounded a corner and they could see the gigantic ferris wheel in the distance. "But, even if I try to, you'll just escape and I'll never be able to find you. Or get a hostage or something."

Ryouta frowned. "I know I'm bad, but not that terrible. Really Daddy? I'll take a hostage?"

Looking at the boy's face, Ryouhei laughed. He had looked quite adorable. "Hear what, with your world's technology and magic, why don't you connect the two worlds or something? That way, you could cross over anytime you want."

The Prince almost tore up. With a lunge, he dived towards Ryouhei and hugged him. "You're the best Daddy!"

"Hey! I don't want to crash! Ease off me!"

…

Hakase and the rest of the Kaijou team were waiting patiently by the entrance for Ryouta. They won their match against Yokohama Gakuen with ease, but they dared not to tell Ryouta about it unless he asked. He nearly threw a fit when his father called him and said that he had a photoshoot to do on the day. It seemed that he really wanted to play despite what happened previously. But now, they've gathered to help the Prince enjoy himself and forget that experience.

Soon, they spotted Ryouhei's car driving towards them and they let out a sigh. They didn't know what ways the Prince would stress them out, but luckily, Kasamatsu was a man who put up to no foolishness. Despite Ryouta having the power to wield electricity at will, Kasamatsu wasn't afraid to kick some senses into him. He's done it numerous times, ignoring Hakase's warnings that he may end up electrocuted. Still, it curbed Ryouta, taming him in ways that not even Hakase would have thought about.

"Have fun now children!" Ryouhei said as he drove off. Ryouta dashed towards the group with a smile on his face. When Kaijou and Hakase saw that the Prince was smiling and Ryouhei seemed calm, they deduced that the shoot had gone well.

"So, where do we go?!" Ryouta asked.

Moriyama and Kasamatsu grinned. "We'll be going on a rollercoaster."

"A rollercoaster? What's that? What does it look like?" His eyes then scanned the area. "What's that _hebi_ like thing?"

Hakase and Kaijou paused. "Hebi?"

Ryouta rolled his eyes. He then pulled his phone from his spatial ring and made Kei find a picture of the "Hebi" he spoke about. When the group saw it, the only thing they could do is chuckle.

"That's called a snake in Japan, Prince." Nakamura said, stifling down his laughter. "Don't let anyone hear you call it 'Hebi'."

"But he's blond; he'll get away by saying he's a foreigner." Hayakawa said.

"A foreigner with a Japanese name and his face plastered everywhere?" Kasamatsu laughed. "Good one Hayakawa!"

Ryouta only stared at them. "Is there something that I missed?"

"Nothing, nothing." Kobori said as he urged Ryouta forward to the amusement park. The others followed behind them, but as they walked, they could hear shrieks from girls as they walked on. Swiftly, Hakase pulled out sunglasses from his bag and placed it on Ryouta before they entered the amusement park.

Upon entering the park, Ryouta was confused. He wanted to try out so many things but he didn't know where to start. The sizzling sounds of food being fried along with the mouth-watering smells that permeated the air were almost enough to drive the Prince crazy. As he was about to move off, he felt a cold sensation around his wrist. And this sensation was all too familiar.

"Hold your horses, Your Highness." Hakase said with a smirk. "You aren't going anywhere without me."

Ryouta looked down on his wrist and saw the handcuff. "Mahiro!" he whined loudly. "Not this again!"

"Let's get moving. We're heading to the " _Takabisha_ "!" Moriyama shouted with glee. "Hopefully I can get a seat beside a beauty!"

Kaijou cracked up with laughter. This was typical of Moriyama, but they knew that it's highly unlikely. Soon, they navigated their way towards the rollercoaster and waited in line. There was quite a long queue, and they all fretted that the Prince may lose his patience and make a fuss.

"Can't we go somewhere else until the line moves up?" Ryouta asked. "I'm getting hungry."

"Well, you and Hakase could go out while the rest of us keep your spaces. We can message you when our time will come." Moriyama said.

"But you can't eat anything." Hakase said. "This is a rollercoaster. You'll get an upset stomach and throw up."

"I won't throw up!" Ryouta shouted. "Standing in line here for God knows how long is boring! I wanna go see the world!"

"I don't want to risk it." Hakase deadpanned before turning around.

"But Mahiro~" Ryouta started. Just then, the queue moved up, exciting the Prince. Even though they were a little ways off, it still wasn't long before it's their turn. The rollercoaster had two trains each holding eight cars, and the ride was two minutes and forty seconds long.

"Patience, Prince, Patience." Nakamura urged when he saw Ryouta getting fidgety again.

After a couple minutes, it was finally their turn. Hakase, Ryouta, Kasamatsu and Nakamura were in the front, followed by Kobori, Hayakawa, Moriyama at the back. They had left him for last since he said that he wanted a seat beside a beauty. However, a male sat next to him instead. That was quite upsetting for the shooting guard.

After everyone was seated and strapped in safely, the rollercoaster started moving. The operator nearby clapped his while smiling saying,

"Bisha, Bisha, Taka-Takabisha…"

Which incited the passengers to start chanting as well. They then entered pitch black darkness after which there was a sudden drop, causing the Prince scream out in fright. The cars then did what seemed to be a heartline roll ―a 360° roll, spinning on one axis.

After the roll came a bright light, Ryouta sighing a relief. He could see daylight. Following a little slump, the cars were then suddenly launched forwards down the tunnel and exits directly into an inverted top hat ―a 90° ascent up a hill followed by a 90° descent. Exiting that, the ride entered a corkscrew followed by two airtime hills.

The cars slowed upon re-entering the station building, but when Hakase looked at Ryouta, he saw that the blond looked terrified. He gripped the safety bar tightly, but luckily not tight enough to destroy it.

"Is-is it over?" Ryouta stammered out.

Hakase and the rest of Kaijou laughed. "It's just getting started!"

"Are you fucking joking!?"

After turning an 180° corner, the cars exited the building to face a vertical hill. Upon closer inspection, the Prince saw that there were chains hauling them upwards and he was actually getting sick and fearful. The lift was slow as if preparing them for what was coming ahead.

Ryouta closed his eyes midway and ignored Hakase's snickers. He was going to exact revenge when all this is over. Soon, the cars reached the top of the hill and Hakase nudged Ryouta to open his eyes. The view was amazing.

He was seeing the entire amusement park, and other surrounding areas. He was even seeing Mount Fuji in the distance. But he was soon taken out of his thoughts by his teammates and the other rider's chants…

"Bisha…Bisha…Taka-Takabisha!"

They had paused at the top of the hill for couple seconds and being at the front, Ryouta felt as though he was about to vomit his entire stomach.

"Mother of God…" Ryouta gasped in horror as he looked downwards and saw the drop. The Prince was not amused.

The ride then hurtles down to the ground; everyone except Ryouta threw their hands into the air, shouting with joy.

"Fuck! Mahiro!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs. "You fucking bastard!" he screamed. Tears were even flowing out of his brown eyes. "I'm going to kill you!"

The cars then entered a dive loop ―the track twists upwards and to the sides and then dives toward the ground in a half-vertical loop. Following that, there was an inline loop, which had them upside down for a second. Ryouta was sure that he'll vomit his entire stomach here.

"Daddy!" he screamed in fear. "Daddy! Save me!" the poor boy was crying even more now, hands gripping his safety bar tightly.

Next and lastly was an immelmann loop ―it was an inversion in which riders enter a half-loop followed by a half-twist and exit. Ryouta screamed nonstop, cussed Hakase while he was at it, and begged for his parents from Sekai to take him off this ride. The car slowed and returned to the station building, Kaijou and the other rider exited, Ryouta looked like he was sick.

"Mahiro…" he groaned out, swayed as he walked. "No more. I can't…"

Hakase and the others simply ignored him. They trotted out towards another rollercoaster, and the Prince nearly sent them flying with his magic.

"Are you insane? Mahiro…I said I can't take no more…" Ryouta actually had tears streaming down his face. The experience for him was not thrilling but scary. Especially the drop from that high ass hill. "Don't do this to me...Don't you love me?" he whimpered.

"Of course I do. I love you with all my heart." Hakase smiled. "But I love rollercoasters with my entire being."

The Prince nearly tore up. The tone which Hakase used at first sounded sarcastic.

"Don't worry; this one is better than the last one." Kobori said with a soothing voice. But then he added, "Imagine if we had the Kingda Ka in Japan. Then you'd piss your pants."

"O-okay." Ryouta sniffed. He trusted Kobori more than the others, as just like in his world, the young man was always the voice of the reason (even though they hardly ever listen).

The next rollercoaster they went on was the " _Eejanaika"._ They kept the blond distracted and Hakase even bribed the young Prince that he'll cook anything he asked for.

They had to queue up for some minutes as with Takabisha, but when it was their turn; Ryouta's legs were shaking with fright. Unlike the Takabisha where their feet were secured in a car, the Eejanaika had nothing shielding them. They sat in seats facing backwards and strapped up, and prepared for the ride.

Ryouta tried to give Kobori the stink eye for tricking him, but then he remembered that he said that this coaster was "better than the last one". In Kobori's eyes, this coaster is, but in Ryouta's eyes, it was a monster.

The ride moved off in a moderate pace, and rounded a corner. Ryouta was a bundle of nerves, while everyone else was having fun and shouting in delight. At first, the ride started out peaceful, climbing up a hill giving him a view of the area and the amusement park.

Just then, he felt himself drop, after which he spun clockwise upside down completely in 360°. The track travelled underneath a joint like structure and Ryouta trembled from the fright.

" _F-F-F-F-FUCK!"_ he screeched. Hakase was beside him enjoying himself, and laughing at Ryouta's misfortune. It was sweet music to his ears.

But, it didn't end there.

Their cars made an anti-clockwise spin and as Ryouta looked, he felt as though his face narrowly escaped being smashed into the bar. Obviously, he was exaggerating, but no one could tell the Prince otherwise. Not even being able to recover from that shock, the ride entered a raven turn ―half-inversion which resembles a half loop followed by a drop and then levels out at the same height as it began.

"Holy shit!" Ryouta screamed in horror. "I'm shitting my pants! _I'm really shitting my pants_! Mahiro!"

Lightning started to crackle around his hands, threatening to extend onto the track. He calmed himself down as if he caused the rollercoaster to get stuck, it would be a nasty situation if they're dangling upside down.

The coaster continued its journey, with its track inversions and the cars rotating independently as well. It scrambled their brains as well, poor Ryouta suffering the most. He never experienced this before as fighting Bakemono never had these twists and turns and shit.

Kaijou was enjoying this ride, one reason being that Ryouta's screams were hilarious. When he wasn't screaming for someone to save to him, he was cussing out Hakase and Kobori (who conned him into getting onto the ride). For a Prince, Kaijou were surprised at the "colourful" words he used, and wondered what his parents and other siblings were like.

By the time the ride ended, Ryouta was a shaking mess. He was staggering, and swaying like a drunkard, his face looked green with uneasiness.

"How was it, Your Royal Highness?" Moriyama joked.

"I'm going to…" Ryouta started with a snarl, but quickly stopped. "…throw up."

"I knew you'd like it." Moriyama continued to tease.

"I'm going to kill you," he snapped.

"So, we're going to which ride next? Do Donpa? Or Fujiyama?" Nakamura asked, totally tuning out Ryouta and Moriyama's one-sided argument.

"We're not going on anymore!" Ryouta retaliated. "We're going home!"

Kaijou paused, "Excuse me?" they glared at him.

"Prince, we paid five-thousand two hundred yen for our Free Pass Tickets," Kasamatsu started, Hakase nodded beside him. "We're going to milk these rides dry. And you're coming, whether you like it or not."

Ryouta whimpered in sorrow. Next time, he'll just stick to visiting Akihabara, amusement parks were not amusing.

…

By the end of the day, Kaijou and Hakase were humming with joy while Ryouta seemed to be a bit better. After they left the Eejanaika, they headed onto the Fujiyama, which again had the Prince cussing them out. But he toned it down since it wasn't like the former where their seats were rotating all over the place. This was better than the first two rollercoasters that they went on; nevertheless it had its scary moments ―like the (how much metre) drop from climbing the hill. Thankfully, Hakase and Ryouta weren't in the front cars this time.

Following that, they went on the Do-Dodonpa, which was one fast ride. While they were waiting, passengers chanted the name while matching the beat of the taiko drums that were being played. It gave Ryouta an ominous feeling, and he had prayed that it wasn't worse than the Eejanaika.

After being fully strapped in, they were then launched forward. At that launch, Ryouta could have sworn that his face had been peeled off by the wind. The thing starts from zero to one hundred and eighty km/h in just a second and some mash. But thankfully, it wasn't as scrambling and frightening as the Eejanaika and Takabisha.

After those rides, they headed to the Tentekomai. On a mast tower, there was a rotating lattice with single rider seats. These were low flat-bottomed freight cars with fixed sides. On these sides were wings, resembling a bird's. The good thing about this was that riders control their own wings.

That said, the Prince actually had a good time here. He spun his car around and upside down, he flapped the wings continuously all the while hooting in joy. Kaijou was relieved to see him happy, and even commented that he resembled a little child who was having fun for the very first time. But, even though they rode the rollercoasters, Kaijou had fretted that he may have unleashed his Lightning and caused the coaster to malfunction. Unbeknownst to them, it nearly happened on every single rollercoaster.

Their day continued with them eating lunch, here, the Prince nearly set them up to get robbed. Not knowing what to order at the time, he asked for everything on the menu, leaving Hakase spluttering,

"Kise-san didn't give me his bank book!"

"Oh, but I have gold and platinum notes. Japan doesn't use these?" He asked innocently. He then took out one of each of the mentioned notes, and showed it to his teammates. "This is what they look like."

Kaijou and Hakase gaped with shock. The gold and platinum notes were in the shape of a banknote, but unlike the latter, they had no marking on them. They were blank. Quickly, they urged him to put them back in his spatial ring, as thieves could be lurking anywhere.

"What the hell are you doing with those anyway?! Your country uses gold and platinum notes?!" Nakamura asked. "Not even silver, but platinum?!"

"Well, I don't know the full story, but some people wanted Daddy's favour but they knew that he's quite stubborn. So, they tried to butter-up me and my brothers by giving us tons of gold and platinum notes and precious gems. That's how I have these." he explained. "And no, each country in Sekai has their own currency like Earth does. As a matter of fact, Kaijou uses the same notes like Japan. However, people use these gold and platinum notes for when they travel to another country and don't have their currency or they couldn't be bothered to go a cambio."

"Oh..." they chorused.

"But I'm going to tell you this, don't show those things in public." Kasamatsu said. "Bring them to an auction house or something if you want to get rid of them."

"I'll keep that in mind."

They finally had their lunch, and after, they decided to head onto the Shining Flower ferris wheel. Due to them frightening the Prince with the rollercoasters, he was quite sceptical about every ride in existence. But, they planned to do this again, they loved to see the Prince bawling his eyes out.

The queue for the ferris wheel wasn't as long as the rollercoasters, so within a blink, it was their turn to enter. Four people could hold in each pod, so Kaijou were split: Hakase, Ryouta, Kasamatsu and Moriyama, while Kobori, Hayakawa and Nakamura were in another with a stranger.

The ride was quite fun, Ryouta looking out the window at the scenery below. More and more he was loving Japan and it's culture, more and more he didn't want to go back home. Thankfully, Ryouhei had given him an idea, but he needed meet with his counterpart first. Even if they somehow manage to connect the two worlds, he's not going to live in Kaijou.

"Mahiro," he started, "Daddy gave me an idea."

The other three boys exchanged glances before Hakase asked, "What idea is that?"

"He said, since I love it here so much, I should try to connect Sekai and Earth permanently."

Silence enveloped the entire pod, and it was Kasamatsu who broke it after a while. "And how will you do that?" He asked. He was quite curious too.

"Well, maybe if I treat it like a Teleportation Circle that we use for travel." Ryouta answered. "That should be easy enough."

"But I remember what you told me," Hakase said, "Wouldn't Japan need a Mana supply for that to be usable? I mean, people from your Kingdom would be able to cross over but won't be able to return."

"Oh shit, that's right."

"I don't know what's going on, but couldn't you do something where the gateway is always opened? Like a portal, maybe?" Moriyama suggested. He's watched his fair share of anime to pitch in. "People are able to step in and out as they please." he then smiled. "I'd love to meet the Kasamatsu of your world. She looked pretty hot in the picture."

"You dog!" Kasamatsu roared, giving him a vicious kick as well.

"You better keep your eyes off her." Ryouta chuckled, "Her boyfriend will literally rip you to shreds with his Wind Magic."

"Her boyfriend?" Kasamatsu and Moriyama asked. It was strange, since Kasamatsu couldn't even hold a conversation with a girl in this world. So wouldn't it be the same? His female counterpart shouldn't be able to speak to boys easily.

"He's Yoshitaka-senpai." Ryouta grinned. The captain and shooting guard looked at each other.

Hakase whispered to Ryouta, "That moment when you find out your female counterpart's boyfriend is a hopeless romantic."

Ryouta chuckled, "Or that moment when you find out that your captain is your very hot girlfriend."

"No!" they shouted while twisting their face in disgust and horror.

"Don't be like that, they're a cute couple." Ryouta cooed. "I have some pictures!" Immediately, Ryouta took out his phone and had Kei find the pictures. When Kasamatsu and Moriyama saw them, all hell broke loose. Kasamatsu fainted from the shock, Moriyama gaped like a fish.

"At-at-at least the other Yoshitaka's taste in women is as good as mine." Moriyama stammered out. "Although I'm currently burning with envy that he has a girlfriend and I don't."

"Look on the bright side, at least you have a girlfriend in another life." Hakase said, trying to cheer him up. "And she's beautiful and hot too."

"I can't believe this. That means if I was a female I'd be with him?" Kasamatsu shivered in utmost horror. He couldn't see it happening. "It's making my skin crawl. How did they even get together?"

"That's a story for another day, Captain." Ryouta smirked.

Their ride continued in friendly laughter and conversation, Ryouta of course, taking numerous pictures for Kei to see, and Hakase making a comment that left Moriyama and Kasamatsu pondering, and the Prince grinning.

"What would an amusement park in Kaijou be like? I mean, they have magic and crazy technology, so wouldn't it be cool actually?"

"When I get in touch with Ji-nii or Ryou-nii, I can always ask them if they could make Daddy build one. Your Ryouta is there, so he can fill in the information needed."

"Now _that_ we'd love to ride on." Kasamatsu and Moriyama said in unison.

…

Kaijou made it home quickly and safely, in fact, it was the Prince who brought them home. In his room, he had written a permanent 'return' magic circle on the floor, should he get lost anywhere in Japan. And as such, he along with Hakase and the regulars stood on his magic stepping stone, before he wrote the 'departure' magic circle beneath them. As soon as it lit up, the light engulfed the seven boys and within a flash, they had appeared in his room.

After greeting Ritsuko who had been home at the time, the regulars left, leaving Hakase and Ryouta. The Prince then proceeded to explain how they entered the house without her knowing since they had given the woman quite a scare.

While Ritsuko was preparing breakfast, Ryouta returned to his room with Hakase and began his plan of "connecting the two worlds".

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review! Also, the amusement park and the rides used are real. I watched the on-ride POV to get a better understanding of rollercoasters because there're none in my country. So forgive me if I didn't portray their feelings properly.**_


	16. The Tragic Field Trip

Chapter 16

 _The Tragic Field Trip_

…

As the days passed, Kise was getting better at using "Kaizer" and some of the magic stored in his other ring. But at nights, Kise noticed that his guards had changed to two other males (their names he forgot). Ken and Kibou were nowhere to be found, and Kise felt somewhat uneasy. He was acquainted with Ken and Kibou, and thus, he missed them.

Apart from that, he continued to teach Ryouji Martial Arts, the Second Prince was catching on quite quickly. He was even adding his Water Magic to the forms and katas and now that Kise was stronger, he didn't ease up. Seeing how his younger brother was faring, Ryouma decided to join in as well, and that'll make two of them on Kise's case.

Add to that, since Kise had a field trip coming up, Ryouji and Ryouma took him to one of their simulation rooms, and had him experience what a "wild animal" looked and behaved like. To say that Kise pissed his pants was an understatement. He was downright terrified. What made it worse, the manner in which his brothers spoke, made Kise feel like they were referring to a bunch of mongrels and stray dogs.

But it didn't end there. Not wanting to leave any stone unturned, the two Princes simulated a couple Bakemono without letting Kise know. Upon seeing the creatures, Kise immediately fainted from the shock and fright. Ryouji had to resuscitate him.

"Well, I guess we should do this more often then." Ryouma said while Ryouji revived Kise. "He's going to face them in the flesh sooner or later."

"And we can't have him killed." Ryouji added. "I mean, who knows what kind of psycho his father is? Given how our Papa is, I really wouldn't want to meet the other Kise Ryouhei when he's angry."

Ryouma shivered in fear. "Indeed."

At school, Kise realized the reason for Ken and Kibou's absence of their guard duties. They were disguised as teachers, Ken taught a Scythe class while Kibou taught Fire. He surmised that it was probably because of the field trip they had coming up. If the Prince was attacked in his very bedroom, then anything could happen on a field trip and the King was not going to take any chances.

…

It was finally the day of the field trip, and before Kise left the house, The King and Queen were rattling off all the dos and don'ts and that if anything happened, he should stay by Ken and Kibou at all times.

Reaching to school, Kise saw the students clothed in their tracksuits. One rule of the school, was that when going on an external classroom trip, they were supposed to wear their tracksuits. These suits were roomy and flexible, and were made to accommodate a student's element. Which meant that, for someone who had the Lightning element, their suit would be made out of a different material than someone who had Fire.

After they had assembled in the schoolyard, Kise looked around and saw that it wasn't the entire first year cohort present and there were some second year classes as well. He then remembered that for a field trip, two grade levels go to the same place at the same time. However, due to the sheer number of students in each cohort, they split and combined the classes, which meant that three first year classes will attend the same trip with three second year classes. He let out a sigh of relief as he spotted Junpei, Shun and Riko.

"Try not to lose it, Your Highness." Shigehiro nudged him and smirked. "We may encounter a couple wild animals."

"I'll be fine." Kise replied. "After all, my brothers made sure I got used to fighting some "wild animals" and Bakemono."

"Eh? Really?"

"Yeah, even though I ran around and screamed most of the times, though."

Kaito then walked up to them, and they had to change their conversation topic. The white-haired boy looked as though he hadn't suspected anything and joined in their new conversation. Before they were teleported to the Stone Forest, Kise tried to look for Taiga and Tetsuya but due to the mass of students, he couldn't. Add to that, they were in a different class and Tetsuya was as invisible as her counterpart on Earth.

« _Alright students, you will be further split into smaller groups, please follow the instructions of your assigned teachers._ _»_ An announcement was made, and quickly, the students entered their groups. They were a combination of first and second years, with the second years being the leaders of these groups should anything happen and their teacher had to leave them.

Kise didn't know if this was pre-arranged or what, but he was in a group with Junpei, Shun, Riko, Taiga, Tetsuya, Shigehiro and Kaito. Their assigned teachers were Ken and Kise's geography teacher ―Tachibana-sensei, who was a Seirei.

When everyone was settled, they were teleported to the area, and the sight left Kise breathless. They were within the Stone Forest, in one section that had the white earth. Looking at the gems embedded within the trees and the sparkling light they gave off as the sunlight hit them, left Kise gaping. Quickly, like other students, he took out his phone and took pictures of everything around him. The AI on his phone ―Takeo was ecstatic and even managed to catch a picture of a bird-like creature. They then marched out of the Forest, but along the way, they encountered some Seirei who were dressed like office workers, some dressed like students (not of Kaijou school) and so on. Kise wasn't really shocked at this, since, he read that Seirei were treated like Ningen. They worked, they partied, they attended school (if they wanted) among other things.

Some even called out to Tachibana and vice-versa. Finally exiting the Forest, in front, as far as the eye could see, was a vast stretch of land, pristine white in colour. The land wasn't bare, but the grasses were a beautiful white. They glowed in the morning sun, seeming like tiny blades reflecting the light rays. The patches of trees here and there were like the ones of the Stone Forest, made out of dirt and stone, and varied in colour. Some were of the colour of sand, some were like loam, some were made out of white stone with gems within them, and so on.

Beyond the plains, one could see mountains in the distance, their tops covered with snow and ice. Although they were taller, Kise was immediately reminded of Mount Fuji back home. The group then moved off, the teachers explaining about the landscape and so on. The further they walked away from the Stone Forest, the more amazed Kise became. And thankfully, this was the first time that the school had a trip here, so all the students were curious and awestruck.

…

A sleek black car pulled up outside of a huge white tower, the driver quickly hopping out and putting on his dark shades. He was a tall blond man, and was dressed semi-casually. Before entering the building, he had to insert some of his Mana onto the scanner for the double doors to open.

This tower wasn't the only one in the country, as a matter of fact, every country in Sekai had these present. They were called "Barrier Towers" whose sole purpose is to keep the protective barriers up that wards out Bakemono and all sorts of dangerous animals from entering their cities and other reserves.

Inside, he took off his glasses and everyone present greeted him with utmost respect. He headed to the elevator nestled to the left of the lobby, and was teleported to the eighth floor, the building had a total of twelve. When the door opened, a pristine hallway greeted him, with doors on either side and one at the end.

Striding confidently, he headed towards the final door, and once again, he had to insert his Mana into the scanner. It slid open and he entered.

Inside was packed with people who were sitting around computers which showed scenes from the Stone Forest and the Stone Plains. The eighth floor was tasked with monitoring the mentioned area, which meant that they were currently observing the students who were on a field trip.

At the forefront of the room was a giant screen that took up the entire wall. On it showed a blueprinted version of the Stone Forest and the Stone Plains, and the areas' barrier. Upon hearing the door open, a tall woman with brown hair and matching eyes walked up to him and asked,

"What brings you here, Kouen-sama?"

Kouen smiled, his red eyes looked calm. "I just wanted to make sure that my little cousin's field trip goes smoothly, that's all."

The woman frowned. "There was no need for you to come directly here. We have ensured that the barrier is fully functioning. There's no need to worry about the Third Prince."

"I can't help it, you know?" Kouen shrugged. He then walked down the steps, the woman who seemed to be the one in charge following. She continued to dissuade him that there was no reason for him to be here. Reaching the foot of the stairs, he turned and answered,

"You're right. Maybe I'm getting worked up for nothing." At that moment, he took out his phone and typed a message. When he sent it off, an evil smirk appeared on his face. And sadly, no one saw it.

The lights suddenly blacked out as though experiencing a power cut.

"What's happening!?" The woman barked. But in that instant, she was electrocuted and lost consciousness. As such, workers in the Tower were dropping flies, the ones who used their Fire and Lightning magics as light could faintly discern figures moving in the shadows. Some of these workers were able to fight off these intruders for a while, however, they too, were electrocuted from an unknown source.

Soon, all the workers were unconscious and lay on the floor or slung over the monitors. A disguised figure who looked like a young male walked up to the control panel and with swift movements of his fingers, the barriers on the screen were slowly disintegrating, indicating that the barrier was being removed.

After, all the disguised figures left the room, leaving the workers and Kouen.

…

The students were still exploring, however, Tachibana and the other Seirei teachers felt something amiss. Being a Seirei, they were more sensitive to changes in Mana flow than Ningen. By now, the groups had split and gone on in different directions, but where still in eyeshot of each other.

"Ken-san," Tachibana said. "Be on the look-out. Something feels off." Ken nodded. He was standing the closest to Kise, ensuring that no harm befalls him.

"But "something"? Could you elaborate, if it's possible?" Ken asked.

"The flow of Mana in the air has changed. Or rather ―" he broke off as he looked upwards. His green eyes widen with shock. "The Barrier...We need to run!"

Just then, a loud rumbling could be heard, and the different groups could see many animals storming towards their direction. Immediately, the teachers gave the instruction that they should run and eliminate anything within their path. As luck would have it, dark magic circles appeared all over, and out emerged grotesque creatures.

"Bakemono?" everyone gasped in shock.

With Kise's group, Ken and Tachibana didn't hitch. The two sprang into action the moment they saw the black circles, Kise and company brandished their weapons immediately. Charging forwards, Tachibana used his Earth Magic to entrap the creatures, while Ken burnt them to nothing with his Fire Magic.

However, the closer they got to the Stone Forest, the more dense the monsters became. Their outer skins were tough like iron, but luckily Tachibana was present. As a Seirei, he was far more powerful than Ningen and as such, Ken tried his best to coordinate and keep the children safe. He wasn't just concerned about Kise making it out alive, he wanted all these children safe from harm.

While the teachers were further up front, Riko had issued orders to the others.

"Rearguards, Junpei and Shun-san. Your archery will wipe out the Bakemono at the front. That way, it will slow the ones behind and give us ample time to attack."

The two nodded and put away their secondary weapons within their spatial rings. Then, majestic bows materialized, stunning Kise. During club practice, he's always seen them use simple recurved bows, but these, made the blond ace realize that these bows were the real deal.

Both the upper and lower limbs reminded Kise of a wing poised upwards similarly to Apollo's shoes. Beautiful ornate features curled and swirled into the smooth grip section. Looking at them, Kise got both a fantasy and Sci-fi feel. Around both Junpei and Shun's left eyes were a semi-transparent display lens attached to a metal base at the ear. This enabled them to see further off in the distance with ease.

"The middleguards will be Shige-san, Kaito and Ryouta. And the vanguards will be the rest of us." The rest being Riko himself, along with Taiga and Tetsuya. The redheaded girl was ecstatic, and eager to slaughter these Bakemono, but Tetsuya restrained her.

When Riko counted to three, the group moved forwards behind the teachers, but, other magic circles appeared to their left while the teachers were busy upfront. Quickly switching gears, Junpei and Shun rooted their bows into the ground, at that moment the bows glowed a faint light and extended further. They got as high as Kise's Kaizer or probably taller, curving above and over their heads. There were multiple arrow rests on these bows now, which caused Kise to whistle. Then, a large arrow with intricate designs materialized in both their hands. Placing it in the arrow rest forty five degrees from their foreheads, they drew their bowstrings back to their ears and released. They shot up into the sky with a grand arc, and then shot down to the ground in a frightening speed.

Upon nearing impact, each arrow multiplied into what seemed to be innumerable smaller arrows. As they made contact with the ground, they exploded, chunks of Bakemono and earth flew into the air, creating a devastating scene. Craters were all over the place, the creatures falling into the pits and crushing each other.

Kise was shocked. Never before has he seen arrows do that, not even in fantasy themed fiction. "What the hell was that?!"

"They're "Bombardment Arrows" called "Meteor". Of course, the name is self-explanatory." Shigehiro answered.

The vanguards then dashed forwards, Riko was further than Taiga and Tetsuya, but when he neared the creatures, he placed his hand on the ground. A thick pillar of earth beneath the creatures rose upwards and then suddenly receded. That caused the creatures to linger in the air.

Immediately, they were pierced with arrows from Junpei and Shun, rendering them to nothing but chunks of flesh.

Taiga and Tetsuya smirked as they continued forwards, but ended up split in order to take on more of the creatures. Kise's eyes were locked onto Tetsuya, as he wanted to see how she'll fight. In Japan, Kuroko couldn't do much in basketball, but he doubts that that was the case here.

And he was right.

With a jump, she rocketed into the air while drawing her weapon. It looked like a blue-coloured staff with runes decorated from the top to the bottom in silver, but Kise remembered Shigehiro saying that Tetsuya uses two Swordstaves. Twisting in mid-air, she seemed to be gathering momentum and energy for when she returned to the ground. She landed in the midst of the creatures and what happened next left Kise awed.

From where Tetsuya made contact with the ground, thick and massive needles of water emerged and pierced all the creatures within range. Pivoting on her left heel, she darted forwards to the new magic circles opening, brandishing only one Swordstaff. Swinging the weapon into an arc, water emerged from it and she jumped onto it. At this, she materialized her other Swordstaff, the outer covering disappeared into what now became a hilt.

Tetsuya now wielded two Wakizashi with light-blue blades that matched her beautiful hair and silver hilts. On the blade were engraved runes, and Kise was starting to wonder if all weapons had these runes. As the water-arc surged forwards, the Bakemono pounced to her, but were cut in half by her element. That time, Tetsuya jumped off, landed in the midst of the creatures and continued to hack away. Without a break, Tetsuya slaughtered the Bakemono, evoking her element when necessary, slicing and dicing with her weapon.

Seeing her in action, Kise was awestruck. She was, in every way, shape and form, different from her counterpart on Earth. She wielded her weapon and guided her magic effortlessly, the way in which she moved was not rushed or chaotic, if anything, she looked quite elegant.

Kise nodded to himself, that's what she was, _elegant_. She wasn't a phantom in this world, but a slaughtering machine.

On the other hand, Taiga was the complete opposite. While she was as chaotic as the Fire spiralling around her, her movements were extremely destructive. And, like her counterpart on Earth, she was wild and aggressive, and mowed down anything within her path.

But, Riko was the worst of the three. _He_ was the _monster._

He used Earth Magic and his weapon was a hammer. It was huge, the handle and grip were as tall as Kaizer's shaft (or maybe a little bit shorter), which had two black square peens attached to both sides. The faces were silver, matching the handle and grip area. And like everyone's weapons, they had runes.

Into the midst of the creatures he went, smashing his majestic hammer into their bodies and rendering them to nothing but slush afterwards. Other times, with just his magic, he'd create multiple versions of his weapon, twice the size of the original, and like the 'whac-a-mole' game, these hammers of destruction would crush everything in sight. It was a gruesome sight, and Shigehiro had commented that that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Aida Riko was far more deadly.

Within thirty minutes the Bakemono were cleared enough so that they could press on forwards, but Kise was actually fearful. He couldn't show it because as a student of the school (and others similar), this was just a real-life experience to what they did in simulations. His family and clubmates informed him of what these practical simulations were like ―in groups, either the entire class forms little groups or two or more classes join together, and together they'd enter the simulation rooms and fight Bakemono or ferocious wild beasts.

As such, they were accustomed to being in such crazy situations. However, for someone like Kise who had only read about these in manga and novels, who only watched them in anime and movies, he was extremely close to having heart failure.

"Good going there, children." Tachibana said as they regrouped. "I'll give you lot an A."

"Tsch, we haven't gotten any action yet though." Kaito grumbled. "Only the archers and vanguards had the fun."

"Kaito-kun, don't you know that it's the middleguards' duty to back up the vanguard and protect the rearguards? It's only sad that either of these were so monstrous." Ken said with a smile.

"Fine." he huffed.

They continued forwards, not trying to regroup with the other groups. It made no sense to do so, as in a big group, it'll be nothing but chaos and people are more liable to get hurt. In a small group, it's easier to keep track of everyone and easier to assign roles.

Suddenly, they stumbled upon more dark magic circles, but instead of Bakemono emerging, a dark mist took their place. Not knowing what it was and not wanting to find out, Shun used her Wind Magic in order to have the mist disperse. However, when her Wind collided with it, nothing happened. More like, although it looked like mist, it's density far exceeded.

"Is that thing a solid or something?" she asked aloud. "My magic can't do anything to it."

It was floating above the ground and did nothing to it. At first, the group thought that maybe it had a corroding feature, but the ground beneath was still intact. It didn't absorb anything either, Shun's magic was fine before she dispersed it. So what was it's purpose?

Within a split second, the mist-like unknown scattered and covered the air, seeming to entrap them. But it happened so fast that no one could react. Quickly, each person placed a mask of their element over their noses, Shigehiro was quick-witted enough to put one over Kise. She knew about his progress with magic, but she still had to look out for him. Nodding his thanks, the group huddled closer together, not wanting to separated.

After, a deafening silence befell them.

Tachibana, Riko nor Kaito could sense any presence, but they weren't about to put down their guards. Taiga and Tetsuya stood back-to-back, weapons poised and ready to slaughter anything that comes near them. But, all of a sudden, they felt a pulling force like gravity. However, it wasn't g-force.

When the feeling had disappeared, they all realized something that made them pale. They had gotten separated.

The teachers were together at one area, Kise and Kaito were alone in two separate places; Riko, Junpei and Shigehiro were elsewhere, Taiga, Tetsuya and Shun hadn't moved. Of course, panic ensued.

Tachibana fretted because they were students, and he was supposed to protect them, Ken was almost hysterical because he didn't know where Kise was, and the others were worried because they knew of Kise's predicament, if he was alone then he could die. Kaito wasn't that worried about everyone else.

In their frantic state, a bright yellow light caught their eyes followed by a loud rumbling. Looking in the direction of the massive Lightning bolt that seemed to touch the sky, everyone dashed towards it, cutting down the Bakemono in their way.

…

Before Kise could even register what was happening and why everyone disappeared, a big palm grabbed onto his lower face, both he and the person crashing to the ground. The blond saw a disguised figure, holding something over his nose and mouth. His consciousness was slipping, and the alarm bells in his brain started to go off. With swift movements, Kise materialized "Kaizer" and swung it towards his attacker.

He dodged it, but he had to jump off Kise to do so. Quickly, Kise brought his left hand to this mouth and whispered, " _Inazuma._ " before placing his arm back to the ground. A yellow magic circle appeared and out of it shot a huge Lightning bolt, which seemed to want to pierce the sky.

Staggering onto his feet, Kise replaced the "Kaizer" with the "Benevolence", and took an attacking stance. His vision was still blurry, being that whatever that was in his attacker's palm was some form of drug. His vision cleared in time to duck from a dagger aimed at his chest.

Just then, he felt something viciously yank him backwards onto the ground, and at that moment he was pounced upon yet again. This time, it wasn't the sole attacker, but he had company. A palm was placed over his nose and mouth again, but this time, Kise sucked in a breath before. He pretended to struggle, until he gradually slowed his movements to a halt. He closed his eyes and when the palm was removed, Kise used the windmill move to get up on his feet, but what happened during, left Kise shocked.

Gusts of Air shot out of his feet, sending the group some distance back.

The blond ace looked down at his legs and couldn't believe what just happened. But as the attackers started to throw elemental attacks at him, he couldn't stay surprised. Kise dashed away, hoping to evade the attacks. However, an earthen wall halted him in his tracks, which forced him to face his opponents.

"Calm down, Ryouta," he mumbled to himself. He steadied himself into the stance for the Back Hand Strike, and prayed to God that he'll produce some Air. Punching out his arms towards the oncoming attackers, violent gusts of Wind burst forth, blowing away everything in its path. With him not being able to control it (not that he wanted to at the moment), nothing before Kise was spared. Even he lost his balance and was stumbling all over the place.

"How is he using Air Magic? The Prince shouldn't be using Air!" One of the attackers shouted. From this, Kise could tell that this was a female.

"He's probably an imposter." Another snarled in anger. "He could even be a teacher using Disguise Magic to fool us."

 _Disguise Magic...Disguise Magic…_ Kise chanted trying to remember. He's read about this type of Magic as well and not long after it came to him. This wasn't a type of Magic per se, but it was a spell formation used to alter one's outer appearance. However, it is only used if one wanted to mingle within the commonplace, as impersonating Kings and high ranking personnel would get one caught. In many places, before one enters, one would have to display their magic. If their magic element don't match, then it's all over. But since this could be countered if the impersonator's element matches the original, one would have to insert their Mana into a scanner at the door. If the Mana traits don't match, then it's game over.

Kise smiled at this outcome. They were now more cautious since they thought that he was an impersonator. In a sense he was, but not the one they were referring to. Since they were on their guard, Kise took the initiative. He dashed forward with "Benevolence" in hand, punching at the air to keep them imbalanced. As Air continued to burst out of his fists, the attackers were split and headed to him. It would be easier to strike at them one by one, instead of all four of them at once.

" _Éclair_ _de chaleur_ _._ " Kise whispered. Just then, a large magic circle appeared underneath his feet, his attackers halting. However, it faded away and nothing happened. Thinking that it may have been a bluff, they charged forwards yet again, only to catch the smile on Kise's face.

"This bastard..." but they have no idea where or how he'd attack from. They paused, and scanned the surroundings. There was nothing out of the ordinary. But as soon as they stepped within range, the magic circle reappeared and thick pillars of Lightning shot upwards. The attackers caught within it were thoroughly electrocuted, their bodies charred into black ash.

Kise whistled. "So that's what happens when Ningen don't restrain their Mana output. Man, Magic is extremely dangerous." Kise was a Human, so he had no way of reducing the amount of Mana used in spells. Which means, all his Magic was always released at its maximum output. Walking away from the scene, Kise stopped in his tracks.

"So this is what the Third Prince of Kaijou looks like in person, huh?" a deep voice sounded behind him. Kise jolted as he recognized this all too familiar voice. He didn't turned around, not at all eager to meet him. "Be a good boy now and come with us." The voice continued to say in a drawl.

"And if I decline?" Kise asked.

"Well, I'll just forcibly haul your ass with me."

Turning around, Kise's eyes met with dark blue ones. He was right. There before him, stood Aomine Daiki.

…

The Seirin Club, Kaito and the teachers all raced to the bolt of Lightning they had seen. Not knowing whether or not it belonged to Kise, it was the only thing they could think of.

However, in the teachers' case, it seemed that they met with more Bakemono than anyone else. Ken and Tachibana slaughtered these creatures as soon as they popped up, but it seems like once they kill two, four appears. This was extremely annoying, and even though Tachibana, as a Seirei was wiping them out, they still seemed endless. In all this, the two teachers found something amiss.

Even if a barrier is dissolved, Bakemono shouldn't have been springing up so quickly and suddenly. It was almost as though they were in waiting, which is highly unlikely. There was one reason Ken could think of, and that was Kise. He knew that there were many who wanted Kaijou Kingdom as their own, and with a King such as Ryouhei, no one dared to try a direct confrontation.

So, they'd usually go after the more vulnerable ones ―his children. But now that Ryouma and Ryouji can't be taken lightly, they usually turn their eyes to Ryouta, the youngest and most inexperienced. If successful, they'd use Ryouta as leverage to get the King to hand over his country, as it is no secret: King Ryouhei absolutely adores his family. Six years ago, whoever they were had almost succeeded, but in the end, their entire country was destroyed and completely submerged underwater.

Ken silently hoped that Kise was alright. If anything should happen to him...God help them all.

…

The all-girl group of Taiga, Tetsuya and Shun had met up with the others (except Kaito) and together they continued into the direction of the Lightning earlier. Shun used her Wind Magic to propel them forwards at a faster pace; Taiga, Shigehiro and Junpei used their Fire and Lightning Magic to eradicate anything within their paths. When that fails, Riko would use his Earth Magic to send the creatures airborne, after which Junpei and Shun will wipe them out with their archery.

Soon, they neared a clearing. A gigantic earthen wall was present, and without hitch, Riko sunk it into the ground, the sight behind it was not pleasing.

Kise was lying on his back on top of destroyed trees, blood running down from his forehead, bruises and wounds were evident all over the visible parts of his body. He struggled to get up. Daiki, although he was injured as well, had his Water Magic healing him, made his way to the blond boy and grabbed him in his throat. Then, a dark water which looked like poison accumulated at his palm and he placed it over Kise's lower face after which it disappeared into the boy's nostrils.

Of the few times that they spent with the chatty blond, they were actually growing close to him like they were with the Prince. An unimaginable rage got the better of Riko, and he darted to the tanned boy, wielding his Hammer in hand. The others followed suit minus the archers, but while Junpei and Shun stayed where they were, countless elemental arrows were being released.

Daiki had jumped backwards to avoid Riko, and in that instance, the brown haired president felt something halt his progress. A tall, pink-haired young man with magenta eyes had intercepted Riko's attack, and as each of their weapons came to a midpoint, they both jumped back.

"You bastards, who are you anyway?" Riko snarled in anger. While he recognized the tanned boy as the Prince of Touou, he couldn't figure out the others. There was a girl with long black hair but her face was hidden by a face mask and dark glasses. There was another pale blonde haired girl and a tall brown haired one who seemed to be quiet. She was somewhat reminiscent of Kobori. There were two other males, the pink haired one who just blocked his attack, and a small brown haired one who seemed to be...sad? Or remorseful? Riko couldn't care at the moment.

Taiga was beside him, boiling with rage. While she didn't really trust Kise around Tetsuya due to his profound love, she found that apart from his chatty nature and dimwitt-ish ways, he was a pretty cool guy and less irritating than the real Prince. To say that she was livid would be sorely wrong. Her entire body was covered in blazing red fire, her red-brown hair which was kept in a pony tail was now standing upwards as though defying gravity.

She wanted to hack the tanned bastard to pieces so bad…

"We're no one you should concern yourself about." The female with the hidden face said as she took up Kise. His skin had turned a deathly pale. She was Shouichi. She then turned to Daiki and said, "Are you an idiot? If he dies, you know the plan will be all for naught, right?"

"Mah, fighting him was entertaining, I couldn't help myself." Daiki drawled. "But he won't die." he then added. "That is, if the King doesn't play the stubborn mule."

Seeing that they were being blatantly ignored, Seirin took action. Riko turned to his friends and ordered,

"Taiga, go after the tanned one, I'll take the pink-haired one." he started. "Shun can you manage the girl who has Ryouta? You don't need to fight her for long, we just need to get Ryouta back."

"I'll do it." Shun's grey eyes were burning with rage. "I'll definitely get him back."

"Tetsuya, you'll have to use your Magic to bring him back, it seems he's been poisoned."

"Hai!"

"The rest of us, you know what to do." Shigehiro and Junpei nodded. "Seirin, Fight!" Riko then shouted.

"Yeah!"

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review!**_


	17. Divine Possession

Chapter 17

 _Tragic Field Trip II: Divine Possession_

…

Rocks and chunks of earth flew into the air as two boys clashed. Riko and the pink-haired boy created a havoc in their fight. Thanks to Daiki, Riko figured out his name ―Satsuki. As it would turn out, Satsuki's element was the same as Riko's, Earth. Although Riko used a hammer, he was by no means slow. He was nimble, agile but there was one thing that pissed him off. Satsuki seemed to know how he'll react, how he'll move, and how he uses his hammer. And his whip was flipping annoying.

"I see either you've got quick reflexes or you know about me." Riko said, his tone laced with anger.

"Of course I do, Aida Riko-kun." Satsuki said with a smirk. "Son of General Aida Kagetora, you are one of the best Earth Mages of your cohort. And your attacks are mostly offensive, which steers off the stereotype of Earth Mages being highly defensive." Satsuki said calmly. "Your hammer is a powerful weapon, and even though it's highly destructive, it's quite light in the user's hands."

Riko was not amused. "It seems you've done your research."

"Not only you, but your friends as well. I leave no stone unturned."

Riko's face darkened. Returning his hammer to his spatial ring, he faced Satsuki yet again. "I guess you leave me no choice. Since you know all of my previous tricks, I have to resort this." he then chuckled darkly. "To think that I haven't gotten even enough time to master this. I better thank Ryouta after this." He mumbled.

"Wha…?" Satsuki gasped as he saw Riko darted forward to him without any weapon. The earth beneath his feet felt still and undisturbed which meant that Riko wasn't using his Magic either. Still, Satsuki prepared for the onslaught. He knew that Riko was as terrible as his father, so he was not going to let his guard down. Plus, prior to this, Riko was still overpowering him.

Straightening out his brown coloured whip, he took a defensive stance this time. However, what happened next left him shocked. Suddenly, Riko darted to and fro, becoming a blur in Satsuki's eyes.

When Riko got close enough to Satsuki, he stopped as if sizing up the pink-haired boy. Then, Riko took a step to gain momentum. He then spun, after which he bent his leg in a forty-five degree angle and twisted his knee outward. Using this swinging movement, he drove his momentum upward. He then tilted his body in a forty-five degree away from Satsuki as he jumped over his leg; his jumping leg is bent at the knee, said knee is pointing downwards to the ground.

Riko kicked at his target, his strike was horizontal, parallel to the ground. His foot was pointed but it was the heel that he used to strike. This move was taught to him by Kise, it's name being the "540 Spinning Hook Kick".

For Satsuki, everything happened too quickly for him to react. One moment he saw Riko before him and the next, he felt the heel of Riko's foot crashing into his cheek. Satsuki was sent flying some metres, eventually crashing into the ground and rolling to a halt.

Dizzy and disoriented, Satsuki tried to get up onto his feet, however, the earth beneath him quivered. Jumping back, Satsuki steadied himself, and straightened out his whip. Snapping it to the ground, the earth quaked and jutted upwards, causing Riko to evade. Still, Satsuki was shaken by Riko's strike. He hadn't fully regained his composure, and was on high alert.

Just then, he heard a loud rumbling. A shadow cast on him which made him look up. A gigantic earthen wave was hovering above him, Satsuki quickly scooted backwards on a piece of earth to evade it. But in the instance he'd done so, before he could react, a square chunk of earth hovered over him, before crashing into his back.

Riko didn't linger, instead, he rushed off to help his friends. He knew that that earth chunk probably didn't crush Satsuki like he wanted, but Kise was top priority.

…

However, Riko was the only one who had overpowered his opponent.

Taiga was losing horribly to Daiki, one of the main reasons being that his element was the bane of hers. Taiga was Fire while Daiki was Water. And as such, Tetsuya had to become her assist. Still, even with the two of them facing Daiki, they couldn't take him down. As a matter of fact, they were the ones who were on the losing end.

Daiki uses a katana, but by no means was he ordinary. His swordsmanship was nothing that either of the girls have seen before, what made it worse, Daiki not only uses the katana but its sheath as well which seems to be made out of iron or some tough stuff.

"Shit! How do we take him down?!" Taiga grunted in exasperation.

"I don't know Taiga-chan." Tetsuya said with a pant. "He's unbelievable."

"Oi, oi, is that all you girls got?" Daiki drawled as he walked towards them. He twirled his katana around, as if showing his boredom. "And here I thought this would be entertaining. Even the pretty Prince was more vicious than you."

"Entertaining?!" Taiga roared. "Who do you take us for? Your bitches?!"

Daiki smirked. "You could be if you wanted to. After all, I like girls with big boobs, and you two fit the category perfectly."

"This filthy bastard." Tetsuya hissed. Her Water Magic started to spin around her. Her light-blue hair was standing on end, her sky-blue eyes were clouded with anger. This was one of the few times that Taiga ever saw her best friend angry, and this was saying something. Tetsuya _never_ gets angry.

Charging towards Daiki, Tetsuya shot out a barrage of water projectiles, Taiga was following close behind. While she couldn't use her Fire Magic, she could still fight with her Scythe.

Daiki sliced each and every projectile in half, but Tetsuya had already managed to get up close to him. Swinging her wakizashi in a wide and graceful art, she attacked Daiki. He dodged the attack, but he was startled by her bloodlust. Really, it was even more than Taiga. She reminded him of a raging sea, violent, strong and forceful, out to crush anything caught within her grasp.

In the instance he dodged, Taiga swung her scythe down into his shoulder, properly slicing him. With a grin, she added her Fire Magic to the blade, effectively burning the tanned asshole.

"You bitch!" he cursed in rage. Quickly, he took galloping steps backwards and used his Magic to heal himself. But Tetsuya would not have it. She blindly charged at Daiki, skating on her Water at her feet. With a spin, she chopped at Daiki, but the Prince was fast, and released a tunnel of Water towards her, knocking her some feet away.

Skidding into a proper position, she charged at him again, even Taiga had to gape at her friend. What had possessed Tetsuya for her to be this way? She's never seen the phantom-like girl fight this wildly before, and poor Taiga was left in awe and confusion.

By now, Daiki had healed the wound on his body, ready for Tetsuya. She saw that there was no way she could win in a direct face-off, their Magic was the same, but his swordsmanship far exceeded hers. She knew that there was no way she'd be able to win.

When Daiki thrust his katana at her, she hadn't enough time to react to it. She barely dodged, the blade slid past her cheek but at that moment, Daiki swung down his katana in hopes of slicing her completely. Taiga was quick and fired off a wisp of Fire which shielded her shoulder. Dashing away from the tanned boy, Tetsuya navigated her way behind Daiki, flicking her wrist to inversely hold her wakizashi and _stabbed._

Her hands moved like blurs, but Tetsuya never eased up. A couple stabs managed to catch the boy, but the others were nicely blocked. Their battle took another turn with both their magics colliding and almost flooding the entire area. They were both Water Mages, and Taiga could only watch what was happening. A tunnel of water would crash into a wall of water, gigantic water serpents would appear and faced off with each other and so on.

But a smile appeared on Taiga's face as she watched. Her friend was so badass.

Tetsuya continued to pressure Daiki and with his attention being on her, Taiga moved in to attack. Darting forwards, she swiped her scythe at him, but at the critical moment, a huge Water Wall appeared and barred the redheaded girl from him and Tetsuya.

Losing her focus, Daiki cast a spell which sent Tetsuya rocketing into a thicket, knocking down a couple trees while she was at it. Pain erupted within her body, rendering her immobile. Quickly, she used her Magic to heal herself, and wondered how Taiga was doing.

That said, Taiga was pretty angry.

She charged at Daiki once again, the tanned Prince sending her a smirk. He hadn't thought highly of neither she nor Tetsuya. He compared how they fought with how Kise had fought him and preferred the latter. The blond was ferocious and had used some unorthodox moves that he's never seen before.

He side-stepped Taiga as she neared him, but she released some of her Fire at him. Using his Water Magic to block it, when the two elements collided, steam dispersed clouding their visions. Taiga smirked, she knew of this effect from Kise, but was sad that they hadn't had enough time to master the combos for real battle.

With a thrust forwards, she stabbed at the space where she thought Daiki was, and her scythe hit something hard. She jumped backwards and spiralled her element around her. The steam disappeared and showed Daiki holding his katana in a defensive stance.

Daiki then darted to her, Taiga nearly breaking out in cold sweat. He was fast, too fast. He darted around her, and shot out his Magic at her, inflicting damage. Water needles crashed into her shoulder from behind and before she could turn in that direction, another crashed into her foot.

Pissed off, Taiga evoked her Fire and formed a dome around her and the surroundings. Daiki hadn't expected this and had to jump away to prevent getting burned. Wisps of Fire stretched from this dome, spinning around wildly seeming to be in hopes of catching Taiga's attacker. Before Daiki knew it, Taiga shot out from the dome and what seemed to be all the strength in her body, she sliced at him, his katana blocking the blunt of her attack.

However, knowing this outcome, Fire shot from her scythe like spikes, stabbing the tanned boy in numerous places. She continued to push forward, wanting to break the katana in two.

"You bitches just don't know when to give up, do you?" Daiki said with gritted teeth.

"You Touou bastards just don't know how to stay out of Kaijou's territory, do you?!" she countered.

Seeing that they were held at a midpoint and Daiki could spring out anything crazy, Taiga backed off, before she charged at him yet again. In the midst of this, she was praying that the others, most importantly Tetsuya, was alright.

…

Elsewhere, Junpei was releasing arrows in rapid succession until his mind was becoming blank. Shun and Shouichi were at each other's throats, and he had to be backing her up. Sakurai Ryo was the enemy's archer, but his releases were faster than Junpei's. Although Junpei's elemental arrows were faster in speed due to them being Lightning, Ryo had a faster technique overall.

It pissed off Junpei to no end, fearing that one of those water arrows may catch Shun.

On that note, Shun was losing to Shouichi. Most of the time, the grey-eyed girl had to be on defence, and what was worst, the other brown haired girl ―Susa Yoshinori, had taken Kise and escaped. Shigehiro was busy with Wakamatsu Kousuke ―a loudmouth blonde-haired girl. Lightning clashed with Fire, burning anything within range. These two girls were vicious, Shigehiro was even more so since she spent the most time with Kise ―they had every magic class together, Geography, Military Tactics...the only class that they don't share is the weapon class.

 _..._

Kaito raced through the woods like a bullet. The trees had all cleared a path for him, the vines converged like a smooth highway, allowing the white-haired boy to run unhindered. Occasionally, Bakemono appeared but these same vines morphed into deadly weapons, taking them out before they even knew it.

Jumping off the vines, when Kaito's feet touched the ground, he closed his eyes and made a scan of the area. There, he saw Ken and Tachibana clearing away Bakemono like garbage, he saw the Seirin Club fighting with some strange people he's never seen before. And lastly, he spotted Kise's body, lying on ground.

"No..." Kaito said in fear as he dashed off, faster than before. "...I can't be too late now."

He sprinted towards the battle, and upon nearing, he saw a tall brown haired girl about to escape with Kise. Jumping down in front of her, Kaito smirked,

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you take him."

"Really, now?" Yoshinori said in a monotone. Her voice was neither angry nor calm. She materialized her weapon, two rapiers and walked towards Kaito after placing Kise gently on the ground.

"Well, I warned you." Kaito said as he disappeared. Yoshinori was startled. She looked about the place and saw nothing out of the ordinary when suddenly vines emerged from the thickets.

They slithered on the ground like serpents, so quickly, she took hold of Kise and jumped into the air to stand on a magic stepping stone. However, the vines suddenly shot up and as they did so, an invisible gas escaped from their pores. The gas hit Yoshinori directly, lulling her into a sleep. The stepping stone faded as did her consciousness, both she and Kise falling to the ground.

Kaito grabbed Kise quickly and dashed away.

After running some metres, he encountered Tachibana and Ken, and upon seeing Kise's half-dead state, Ken froze up. He didn't know whether or not he should feel angry, or sad or find the persons responsible and rip them to shreds.

"Isao, head to the club members, they need help." he ordered. He then turned to Ken, "You're coming with me."

"Wait, what?" Ken asked. "Why is he ―" but he didn't get any answer as Tachibana sped off and Kaito left. Ken followed in the direction of the white-haired boy who held Kise gingerly. The blond's face...his skin by extension was a deathly pale, it seemed as though his life was being deteriorated.

"Where are we going?" Ken asked in a serious tone. He was close to beheading Kaito and escaping with Kise. "Who are you anyway?" he ended up asking.

"No need to worry, Royal Bodyguard-san." Kaito chuckled.

"How did you ―?"

Just then, pristine white vines wrapped around them all, engulfing them in complete darkness. After a couple seconds, they re-emerged at a section of the Stone Forest. This area was the most beautiful that Ken had ever seen, but he wondered the reason for them to come here.

"I'm going to heal him." Kaito said, as though he could read Ken's thoughts.

Ken's eyebrows rose. "How? The last time I checked your magic was Earth. Only Water Magic is able to do such a thing."

Kaito smirked. Vines then hauled Ken upwards into the air and formed what seemed to be a seat. Then, something stabbed Ken within his neck rendering his limbs useless.

"You son of a bitch! You're not healing him, are you!?"

"Of course, I am." Kaito said. "I need you out of the way." he looked up at Ken and smiled, "Don't worry, I won't kill you or Ryouta. But I thought that you might interrupt me because of what I'm about to do."

"What?"

The ground glowed a soft white, the light spreading to Kise's body and giving him back his colour. The entire process was somewhat magical, beautiful and awe inspiring at the same time. Ken saw a black water running from the corner of Kise's mouth, Kaito creating a ball of earth which stored it. After a minute or so, it stopped and Kise looked completely revived. However, he hadn't regained consciousness.

But seeing the process, Ken realized who Kaito was.

"You...You're White Canvas?" he choked out in shock. The very same Earth Seirei who created this entire continent."But why? Why were you blending in with students…?"

Kaito turned to face him. His appearance had completely changed. His hair was longer, extending all the way to his knees which a fringe hanging over his right eye. He looked older than when he was at school, but in Ken's eyes, he looked to be around the same age as him ―in his early fifties.

Suddenly, a white light shone brightly from Kise's glabella, Ken could see a small rune like marking there. The ground beneath Kise rose up, making Kise enter into a standing position. A magic circle appeared beneath them both, the pillar of light shot upwards into the sky. In each of these pillars were Kaito and Kise, and slowly, Kaito seemed a bit transparent. He then moved towards Kise and disappeared within the boy's body, Ken's jaws dropped.

Lightning surged wildly around Kise-Kaito, a shockwave of air travelled as far as the eye could see and further. In his vine chair, Ken was almost blown away, his face feeling as though the breeze was tearing it off. Lightning crackled wildly, reminding him of when the King was irritated. However, it didn't stop there. The Lightning changed colour from a blazing red, to poisonous green, to purple, to sapphire blue and finally white.

Ken watched with horror. While it wasn't strange for some families in Sekai to be able to kick their elements up a notch (he was one of them being able to use Purple Fire), he was extremely fearful of the Royal Family's.

Being a Royal Bodyguard, he was privy to the Royal Family's magic. They were primarily Lightning Mages, with different forms to their Lightning. Yellow was the normal colour, as the commoners' Lightning were the same. However, this is where the Royal Family gets separated. They can kick their Lightning up further. There were Red, Green, Purple, Sapphire Blue, and lastly White. The latter being the most powerful. Ken has never seen King Ryouhei use it, but he was told that when Ryouta was kidnapped, he used White Lightning to destroy an entire country.

Being so close to these different Lightning, Ken could feel their auras and immediately he was breaking out in cold sweat. It was no wonder no one wanted to piss off King Ryouhei and tried to use his children as leverage. Their Lightning Magic is far too frightening.

When everything calmed down, Ken was released from the vine-seat, and gently lowered to the ground. He regained control of his limbs and asked Kise-Kaito,

"What..." He gawked, he couldn't even ask him the question he wanted. Kise's blond hair had turned to white and extended down to his knees like Kaito's but his face was still the Prince's, although his brown eyes had changed to red.

"Don't worry, Ken!" he perked. "Ryouta is safe, just unconscious due to the poison in his body. He'll be up and running by tomorrow!"

"What did you just do?! That wasn't contract forming, was it?! And where is his body?! Or what have you done to it?!"

"Nope!" He said shaking his head, answering the first part of Ken's question. "Divine Possession! His body is right here. I just used partial takeover since he's totally unconscious. That and, we'll be going back for the others, right? I can't expose Ryouta to those dogs from Touou."

"Fuck! How am I going to explain this to the King?! You idiot!" Ken roared.

"Don't worry, Ryouhei-san already knew that I was doing a Divine Possession."

"Did he know that you were thinking about using his son?" He deadpanned.

"Oh." Kaito-Kise said. "He didn't."

"Anyway, let's go. We need to regroup. We can plan our funerals later."

However, throughout all this, Kaito was wondering about something. Kise was from another world, and due to is body being reconstructed by Mana, he could use Air Magic naturally. But, where did the Lightning come from? And even so, how come he's able to use the different forms of Lightning like the Royal Family?

With a shake of his head, Kaito rid his mind of these thoughts for later. Right now, he had bigger fish to fry, like thinking up a way to prevent the King from going ballistic when he explains all this.

…

Taking a break, King Ryouhei sat in the courtyard with his older brother, Prime Minister Kouhei. The two men were laughing and chatting merrily, with Kouhei occasionally teasing King Ryouhei about the stresses of being a King. The older blond laughed to his heart's content, but then he got serious when he was satisfied.

"Thinking about it, Kouen seems highly suspicious," He started. The King had told him his claims when Hikaru told him that someone from the Royal Family may have been conspiring to attack Ryouta. "And he has a problem with you being the King instead of me."

"He does?" King Ryouhei asked in surprise. "How come I don't know about that?"

"He's not your child." Kouhei deadpanned.

"But even so, I doubt that he'd resort to such a thing. I mean, even if he isn't King, he could become Ryouma's advisor or something." King Ryouhei said, taking a sip of his beverage.

Kouhei shrugged. "I couldn't care less what he wants to do. As such, I've secretly placed some Elites to watch his movements. Hopefully they aren't found out and your instincts aren't correct."

"Hmm."

Just then, the two blonds felt something strange. Bolting upright and exiting the gazebo, they saw Lightning shooting up into the sky. Deciding for a better look, they created magic stepping stones and what happened next left them shocked. The bright yellow Lightning changed its form four more times, evident that the owner was a member of the Royal Family.

"Huh?" Kouhei said. "Isn't that in the direction of the Stone Forest and Plains where Ryouta has his field trip?" he then turned to King Ryouhei. "Is it that they've encountered difficulties?" Although Kouhei didn't know about Kise's situation, there was one thing he knew his nephew would never do, use the other Lightnings unnecessarily.

As for King Ryouhei, he wondered who could it be. He knows that Kise can't use magic at the moment, even though according to Mashiro, in due time he will be. Even so, the King was highly doubtful that Kise would be able to use Lightning, and by extension, the Lightning of the Royal Family. So, who was that?

Ryouma, Ryouji, Kousuke, and Kousei were at home because school is out of session until the field trip period is over, Kouen wouldn't be crazy enough to head out there as he has no reason to. So, again, who was the owner?

At that moment, a Guard entered the courtyard and gained their attention.

"Your Majesty! Your Highness!" he shouted since they were in the air. The two men descended quickly upon catching the urgency of his voice and the panicked look on his face.

"What's the matter?"

"The Eighth floor of the Barrier Tower! The workers were all attacked and the barrier was removed! Also, the students are under attack by an influx of Bakemono!"

"What?!" the two men snarled coldly.

The Guard shivered and broke out in cold sweat upon seeing the faces of the two men who ruled this country.

 _..._

The moment Tachibana arrived to aid Seirin, the battle took a turn for the better. Seeing that they couldn't beat Tachibana with Riko and the others assisting him, Daiki and company disappeared without a trace. Since chasing them wasn't a priority, Tachibana guided his students to the Stone Forest, all the while cutting down the Bakemono.

The other groups only faced a couple Bakemono and wild animals, nothing in comparison to what Seirin faced. The sheer amount of Bakemono alone was nearly triple to what the other groups encountered.

Soon, as they shot across the Plains, they met up with Ken and Kaito-Kise who gave them the rundown of what transpired. Of course, Seirin (minus Tachibana) were completely shocked that Shirotsuchi Kaito was "White Canvas" but the boy only chuckled and said,

"You made a guy from another world without Seirei have an inkling to who I was. Shameful." he teased.

"Wait, Ryouta knew who you were?" Riko asked.

"Not really. He used my name's kanji ―Shiro and Tsuchi and got "white earth". He dismissed it as saying that no one's name could mean such a thing, but in the end, he still had a feeling."

"Anyway, can we get our asses back to school? We need to get out of here, and I need to report to his Majesty." Ken hissed. "Leave the chatter for later."

With that, the group moved off, Kaito leading them. He was really eager to go home, because he couldn't wait to look into Kise's mind. He'd already seen a glimpse when they first shook hands, and deemed this Japan place to be quite interesting.

…

When everything was over, the students and the teachers, including Ken and Kibou had given their statements on what transpired to the Police. Chief Hikaru was relieved upon seeing his daughter alive and in one piece, even though he knew that she was able to defend herself. When he and his team interviewed them all, inclusive of Kaito who had taken over Kise's body, his jaws dropped to the floor.

"So you believe that this is all a plot to get Prince Ryouta?" Hikaru asked Ken. The Royal Bodyguard nodded his response. "How can you be so sure?" Hikaru wasn't accusing Ken, but he needed the reason why the young man felt that way.

"Firstly, the barrier was taken down." Ken started, "Secondly, the timing in which the barrier was removed. They chose when we were out of the Stone Forest's range. Thirdly, the sheer number of Bakemono that we encountered. As a matter of fact, I have a feeling that those creatures weren't even Bakemono."

Hikaru's lips curled up into a smile. "Thank you for that Ken-kun. But the fact is, we have the same feeling that this indeed was just to kidnap Ryouta."

"I was right." he said as he clenched his fists. He was still upset that he wasn't there to protect the blond Prince.

"If I have any more questions I'll find you. You may leave."

"Sure. You can call on me anytime. I want those bastards taken down."

Hikaru leaned back into his chair. When he heard Seirin's account, he was absolutely shocked. At first, he thought that Touou's Prince wanted to kill Kise, but when he spoke with Kaito who gave them the black water or whatever it was, their scientists told him that it was indeed poison but it would have taken at least three weeks to become seriously fatal which would have led to death. However, from the moment it has been administered, damages were already being done. Luckily, Kise got healed by Kaito quickly, so the most he'll feel is some fatigue and soreness. But Hikaru felt somewhat relieved. Adding this incident, Hikaru could finally have a lead to the first attack on the Third Prince.

"So, Touou is on the move again, huh?" he said, running a hand through his light-blue hair. "But who are they conspiring with and why?"

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review!**_


	18. Accidental Meeting with Midorima

_**A/N: Thank you for your faves, reviews and follows!**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

* * *

Chapter 18

 _Accidental meeting with Midorima_

…

 _[Meanwhile in Japan]…_

Ever since his trip to Fuji-Q with Kaijou and Hakase, Ryouta immediately began to think on what Ryouhei suggested. However, he was stuck. All he understood was that the kanji and formations could connect the two worlds, but he didn't know how to make the connection like what Moriyama suggested.

He sat in the adjacent room and stared at the magic circles, looking aimless. Hakase had already gone home, so there's was no one he could talk to. Well, he could always call the boy, but he chose not to. He prefers face-to-face conversations anyway.

"How am I going to make this work?" While he was mulling over this, a thought came to mind. He walked to the magic circle on the wall and poured Mana into it, and soon, his old room was revealed. He then wondered if he poured enough Mana would it open up a gateway, but he didn't try it. He knew if his family catches him, there's no way he'll be able to return here.

He called out as usual, and this time, two faces came into view.

"Ryou-nii! Ji-nii!" Ryouta perked in joy. Despite his behaviour, he loves his brothers.

" _It's been a while,"_ Ryouma said with a nod. _"Ryouji tells me you don't plan on coming home."_ His face then darkened, _"You better_ _get_ _your fucking ass back home instead of having your twin do your dirty work!"_

Ryouta laughed nervously. "Maybe."

" _Well, you'll have to come home sooner or later."_ The eldest blond continued, _"We live longer than Humans. Far longer."_

"Really?" Ryouta asked. "How so?"

" _They die when we're teenagers."_ Ryouji joined in. _"They live until eighty-something, and then they're wrinkled and look like they're about to turn to dust."_ He then added, _"Is what Ryouta told me."_

The Prince blanched. This was horrible. "Then that means Mahiro will wither away long before I do?"

" _Weren't you listening!?"_ Ryouma shouted. He then calmed down, _"Unless you give him some Mana, then he'll_ _become like us. It's what happened to Ryouta."_

"Hold on." Ryouta said, slightly confused. "What happened to Ryouta?"

" _Well, Mana reconstructed his body on a cellular level or whatever. He's going to live as long as us, and eventually be able to use Magic. He's gotten physically and mentally stronger too."_

"Oh." was all the Third Prince could utter out. This was...he didn't see _that_ coming. Ryouji explained more about the changes that Mana brought to his counterpart, and the whole story about Kise wanting to marry Tetsuya. Hearing that part, Ryouta nodded in relief. That meant, there's no way the Kise Ryouta of Earth would return here.

 _How nice._ He inwardly grinned. All his worries were now gone, well except the fact that Ningen and Humans age differently.

"Anyway, I'm actually thinking about permanently connecting this world and ours." Ryouta said, getting back to the reason he contacted them.

" _How do you plan on doing that?"_ Ryouji asked.

"What do you think you're here for?! I'm currently stuck. If we can use these magic circles to communicate, then there must be a way to open up some permanent gateway."

Ryouji and Ryouma exchanged glances.

" _Then why don't you use the two on the ground and the ceiling?"_ Ryouma started. _"Think about it, if the force of Mana between the two collides, wouldn't it cause some rippling shit and stuff?"_

"How should I know?"

" _Aren't you the Engineer?!"_ his brothers screeched.

"I'm just a lowly first year. What do I know?" Ryouta smirked. "Plus, this needs some scientists, not only engineers."

" _How about if we do it simultaneously? Like Ryouta could add Mana to the ones in Japan while we add Mana to the ones here. With them activating at the same time, then maybe..."_ Ryouji suggested to his older brother.

" _Then, how long will it stay open for? Are we even sure it won't cause some explosion?"_ Ryouma questioned.

" _We won't know until we try."_ Ryouji grinned. _"Plus, I'm just dying to see what a manga looks like!"_

" _And sports!"_ Ryouma added.

Ryouta grinned at them. He got up and headed to the bookshelf and took out one of his favourites. He then showed them the cover of it and the two boys were eager to know more about it. He opened up a page, the reactions of his brothers were priceless. Having their interest skyrocket, Ryouta knows that his brothers won't stop at nothing to help him with this plan. With a smile, he rubbed his hands in a sinister way.

...

 _[While Kise was on his field trip]_

The following week, Kaijou had the remainder of the Inter-High Preliminaries. After their win against Yokohama Gakuen, Kaijou never lost once. Their second match was against Yokosuka Sogo which they beat them 88 – 54. Following that, their third match was against Hiranuma High, and they had beaten them solidly 120 – 57. The fifth match was Kanagawa Prefectural High and they had beaten them 110 – 53. In all these matches, the Prince played for only one quarter and the blond boy kept grinning right throughout. He had fun during these matches, and was excited to play more.

Their final match was Totsuka High. This match, Ryouta was scheduled to play for its entirety, but didn't. Although Kaijou demolished them 153 – 43, the Prince had lost his temper in the middle of the final quarter and eventually got thrown off the court for bad behaviour. All of Kaijou face-palmed and Hakase was not amused.

But the following day, Kasamatsu, Hakase and Ryouta headed to Tokyo. They planned to watch Seirin, who had to face two Kings in a row. Ryouta's interest was peaked, since Seirin bore the name of his club back in his Kingdom. It was here that he put the pieces of the puzzle together, the rest of his clubmates' counterparts were in Seirin Private High School.

The trio made their way to the gymnasium, and they had reached long before the match began, simply because Ryouta was excited and didn't want to squeeze in the trains or be stuck in traffic. The boy carried them to their destination on his stepping stones, nearly causing Kasamatsu to die of shock.

When they had reached, they quickly made their way to some seats, but a minute or so later, Ryouta headed to the bathroom. Hakase wanted to accompany him since he was always landing himself in some form of trouble, but the Prince reassured him that this time, he'll be a good boy. Plus, Kasamatsu was there. The captain will kick the shit out of him if he messes up.

He got up and left, but Hakase was still uneasy.

Ryouta asked the security guards for some directions and within no time, he arrived. But the problem began on his way back. Somehow, he had gotten lost, and ended up stumbling to where the locker rooms were.

As he passed one door, the label read "Seirin Locker Room". Immediately, his interest was piqued and wondered if any of his friends were in here. He even wondered what they looked like. After all, everyone in Kaijou was a male, he'd be sourly disappointed if everyone he knew was a male in this world. So, as always ever since he came to this world, curiosity got the better of him, and he pushed the door open. But he prayed that they weren't strangers. It'll be heartbreaking.

"Kise?!"

Oh. So they did know him.

"Ah, hi." he said with a shy wave. Looking around, he saw an entire room full of males and immediately his face twisted in disgust, causing Seirin to raise their eyebrows in confusion. Was there something wrong somewhere in the locker room?

"Kise-kun, why are you here?" Riko then asked. The tall blond looked down on her, seeming to be in a daze. He recognized her immediately, just by the hairstyle and hair clips. Somehow, he was relieved that there was at least one female out of all of them. But then, his eyes trailed down to her chest. Or…

 _Her chest is as flat as her male counterpart's. I guess some things never change for some people, right?_ Ryouta thought.

"Kise-kun!" Riko's voice took him out of his thoughts.

"Yes?" He answered.

"I asked, what are you doing here?"

"Kuroko doesn't want to see you, you know?" Kagami joked.

"That wasn't my intention." Ryouta replied quickly. "I got lost." he shrugged. "I went to the bathroom, and now I'm lost. I saw the door's label and decided to enter since I know you guys."

"Oh." But they all could tell that there was something different about this "Kise". First and foremost, the moment he set foot in the room, he would have been hounding for Kuroko. Second, when Kagami spoke, Kise would have retorted sharply or start whining about "Kurokocchi loving him" or whatever. As a matter of fact, this "Kise" was far too quiet, too calm.

"Kise, are you alright?" Hyuuga ended up asking.

"Yes, I am. Is something the matter? Do I look like I'm sick or something?" Ryouta asked, touching his face.

"No, I was just..." he trailed off, "...wondering."

"Oh. Okay." But seeing how the atmosphere was somewhat awkward with the silence, so quickly, he wished them good luck and exited. However, he re-entered to ask for directions. When the blond had completely left, Izuki said,

"Is it just me or didn't Kise seem a bit out of character?"

"He was out of character." Everyone said in unison. They then looked to Kuroko, who knew the blond longest.

The light-blue haired teen said, "That wasn't Kise-kun..." Everyone froze at that statement. "...is what I'd love to say, but he doesn't have a twin brother."

"Which means, he was out of character." Izuki concluded.

…

Ryouta returned to Hakase and Kasamatsu with a bright smile on his face. "See? I told you I can go to the bathroom by myself and nothing will happen."

"I guess I can rest easy." Hakase sighed.

Soon, both teams walked out and the crowd let out a roar of anticipation. No one cheered for Seirin, since they were a new school and had no track records. Whilst, their opponent, Seiho, was hailed as the "King of the North" due to their great defence. But, Ryouta couldn't care less about Seiho. Both his eyes were locked onto Seirin's team.

When he had entered their locker room, he could immediately recognize most of them, and was surprised that they kept some of their features. He could easily pick out Izuki, Kagami, Tetsuya and Koganei although they were males in this world. He was glad that they retained some aspects of their female selves, but Kagami looked a bit wild.

Well, she was always a wild and vicious bitch anyway, He thought with a shrug. But then his mind drifted. Earth was similar to Sekai in almost every way, the few differences would be the sizes of the landmasses, the names of these said landmasses, and Mana. And due to Mana, there are the existence of many different animal specie that Earth doesn't have but that was nothing to worry about.

So why is that some people's genders have changed?

It had been bothering him for a while ever since he arrived here and learnt that he had two older sisters instead of brothers. His parents remained the same, Hakase remained the same, but Kasamatsu, Hayakawa and Nakamura were males here. He didn't see the difference between them and their counterparts, they were the same age, behaved the same (well, except when the females in his world are gushing about doing their nails and going out on dates and all those feminine things).

Still, he was glad that he was a male in this world as well, he wouldn't know how he'd deal with being a female. Sure he could always use a Disguise Spell, but...nah. He was then taken out of his thoughts when the crowd roused up and heard Kasamatsu and Hakase talking.

"I wonder, will Seirin be able to beat two Kings in a row?" Kasamatsu said.

"I think not." Hakase responded. "Judging from your practice match against them, the regulars have some firepower while their bench seem so-so. I could be wrong about the latter though."

Kasamatsu chuckled. "I agree with you. Although Kuroko had gotten injured, their coach ended up sending him out again instead of someone else."

"Exactly." Hakase said. "Even if they manage to beat Seiho, they'll be worn out and tired by the time they face Shutoku." His eyes looked over to Shutoku's bench. "Their regulars pack serious firepower, their bench is no exception. So even if they burn out their regulars, they have equally strong bench players to fill in the gap."

Ryouta, who was utterly clueless about what they were talking about only looked at the two boys. "You know what I think?" he started.

"What?" Kasamatsu and Hakase asked.

"Whoever designed Shutoku's jersey has no sense of fashion. The orange is abominable." the Prince twisted his face in disgust. "It's obnoxious and disgusting. I wouldn't want to be caught dead in that."

Kasamatsu and Hakase burst out laughing. Earlier on, Kise had stated that Shutoku tried to scout him as well. When they had asked why didn't he accept, he replied in the same way that the Prince just did. It seems that no matter the world, the blond named Kise Ryouta will always be a fashionista.

The match began, the referee throwing the ball into the air for the tip-off.

…

When the matches had concluded, the Kaijou trio left the gymnasium and headed to get something to eat. It was late evening, and neither Kasamatsu nor Hakase wanted to keep the Prince out for too long. He was too unpredictable. They trotted to an Okonomiyaki Restaurant, Ryouta constantly chatting away. He asked about the many things he's seen on their way there, Kasamatsu and Hakase at one point forgot that it was the Prince and not Kise. The similarities in personality was frightening.

They then settled in the restaurant, Hakase ordering for Ryouta. Being around him for so long, he has an idea of what the Prince finds tasty and what he does not. As they waited for their serving, Ryouta questioned them about "Okonomiyaki" and what it tastes like and how to even prepare it.

Kasamatsu tried his best to summarize for the blond, but even so, he tilted his head like a clueless child, expressing his confusion. However, Ryouta didn't press, and the table soon fell into silence.

At this moment, both Hakase and Kasamatsu took the time to look at the Prince, at his expressions and body language. He seemed a bit distant here, either he was deeply thinking about something, or worried. Unlike their ace and best friend who was like an open book most times, Prince Ryouta wasn't. In times like these, neither the captain nor the manager could tell what he was thinking.

And it was scary.

"Ryouta...are you alright?" Hakase ended up asking. "You seem out of it."

"Yeah. I'm fine." He replied.

"Are you sure?" Kasamatsu asked. He wouldn't want an unsuspecting soul to accidentally piss him off and all hell breaks loose after.

"Yes!" he said, a bit irritated by this questioning. But seeing their looks of genuine concern, he said, "I'm just stuck at a problem and I'm thinking on how to solve it."

Knowing how smart the boy was, Hakase was surprised that there was something he didn't know the answer to. "And what might that be?"

"How to keep the two worlds connected." he said with a sigh. "I can already communicate through the magic circles, but I don't know how to keep them open for travel permanently."

"I'm sure you'll find a way." Kasamatsu said in an attempt to cheer up the boy. Seeing him down like this was strange. After all, he had his ace's face and it was rare to see the boy sad. Hakase then tried to cheer him up through jokes and such, and it really had him laughing. Even Kasamatsu too.

Hakase even told them of his and Kise's antics and the amount of fun they used to have. He told them about how they met at a Dojo at age three, and how Kise was fascinated with his curly hair and mistook him for a girl.

Ryouta was intrigued by this, as he wondered why and how his earthly counterpart had a best friend for thirteen years and he didn't. He found it envious, but didn't dwell on it since he had friends back in his world.

Not long after their food arrived, Ryouta tasting the Okonomiyaki with caution. But when he found that he liked it, he consumed the food with delight. At one point he started to choke, Hakase patting the boy's back and Kasamatsu throwing water into his mouth. He was saved and Hakase warned him to chew his food properly.

"But Mahiro," he started his annoying whining, "I've never had Okonomiyaki before. It tastes really good."

"Isn't your country similar to Japan? How can you not have Okonomiyaki?" Hakase asked.

Ryouta shrugged. "The same how you don't have Yakitori." he shuddered with delight. "Imagine, bite-sized chunks of kirin meat brushed with soy sauce and threaded onto bamboo skewers and grilled over a hot fire." Ryouta started to drool. "Even the sauce baste is awesome ―ginger, garlic, chives or dry sherry and sake. Fuck...I miss it."

"Alright, Your Highness." Kasamatsu said, shaking his head. "We get it."

"You won't "get it" until you've tasted it." Ryouta pouted.

"Then, when you finish connecting the two worlds, you can always bring us there." he deadpanned.

Ryouta paused. "I can't do that."

Kasamatsu and Hakase rose their eyebrows. "Why not?"

"Well..." he started. And told them what Ryouji told him happened to Kise. Their jaws dropped in shock and horror, but he still didn't tell about the ageing process. If they found out that Ningen, on average, lived for four hundred years, God knows how they'll react. But, he knew he couldn't keep it a secret for long, especially not from Hakase.

"So this is why you never want me at the magic circles in the adjacent room." Hakase said in realization. It was a fact that ever since the blond Prince arrived, he had demarcated areas where Hakase could go from where he could not, and the curly haired boy had always wondered the reason. To think it was for his own safety.

Suddenly, the door to the establishment opened and Seirin entered. Kasamatsu and Ryouta were called out by Kagami, as the redhead was shocked to see them there. Although he knew that the blond had come to watch their matches, running into him here never crossed his mind.

"No honorifics?!" Kasamatsu shouted at the lack of respect.

"Hey." Ryouta simply said. Hakase hadn't budged since he wasn't a part of the team when Kaijou had their practice match. Seirin quickly took their seats, Kagami ended up sitting with Ryouta and company, while Kuroko sat with the rest of the team. The redhead didn't trust "Kise" alone with his shadow and wouldn't want a repeat of what happened after their practice match.

The air was suddenly awkward, so Ryouta said, "Why is he sitting with us? What did we do to warrant this?"

"Oi!" Kagami shouted. The way Ryouta spoke seemed as though the blond disliked his presence.

"Calm down Taiga." Ryouta drawled. "I'm just wondering why aren't you eating with your team."

"Why are you calling me by my given name?" Kagami asked. It was weird, not hearing the annoying "Kagamicchi" coming from the blond's mouth.

Ryouta looked across to Hakase who was busy typing away at his screen. A message came in to Ryouta's phone and he made Kei open it. Yes, Ryouta had gotten a Japanese chip for his phone. When he read it, he knew how to address Kagami.

"I was just playing with you Kagamicchi." he perked. "You looked so sour and your mood was darkening our peaceful atmosphere."

"You…!" Kagami said between gritted teeth. He was threatening to grab the blond from across the table, but he restrained himself.

"If you don't eat, they'll burn." Kasamatsu said. He was totally ignoring Ryouta and Kagami, Hakase didn't seem to care either.

"Why are you covered in mud?" Ryouta asked upon further inspection of Kagami. He took a mouthful of his food and stared at the redhead, awaiting an answer.

"I fell. Forget it." He responded. "And don't call me Kagamicchi. It's disgusting."

 _As if I want to call you that repulsive thing as well,_ Ryouta thought with disdain. _Why does Ryouta have such awful naming sense?_

Just then, the door opened, but no one paid it mind. However, it was when they heard a familiar voice that they paused and looked in the direction.

"Excuse me!" Takao said as he entered. "Sir, do you have two…?" He trailed off as he saw the people present. Midorima followed in behind at this moment and stopped abruptly.

"What are you doing here?" Hyuuga asked. "Where are the others?"

Takao chuckled. "We lost our Senpai while Shin-chan was crying."

"Hey!" the green-haired shooter retorted.

"We figured might as well we get something to eat." Takao continued, ignoring Midorima.

"We're going somewhere else!" Midorima left, causing Takao to follow. As they slid the door close behind them, a sudden wind picked up, followed by a sudden downpour. The two boys quickly retreated inside, and seeing their expressions, Ryouta doubled his lips to not burst out laughing. Takao's eyes then caught Kasamatsu and he trotted over.

"Are you Kaijou's Kasamatsu-san?" he asked.

"How did you know?" Kasamatsu asked. He wasn't used to people identifying him public like that.

"I saw you in Basketball Monthly!" Takao said with a perk. "You're nationally famous as a strong point guard! Oh wow! As someone who plays the same position, I'd love to hear your stories! Do you mind if we joined you? Let's go talk over there." He then prompted the captain to leave his seat and follow him. That was the only seat left for Midorima.

"That table is ridiculous!" Hyuuga whispered.

"Hey, hey!" Riko joined in with a smile. "Isn't this exciting?!" But even so, the others were wondering who was the curly haired boy sitting beside Ryouta.

"You wanted this to happen, don't you?" Kasamatsu asked Takao.

"What? Of course not." He responded playfully.

With the atmosphere awkward yet again, Ryouta said, "Can't you guys order something? Aren't you hungry?"

"I'm surprised that you could eat _that_." Midorima said with scorn.

Ryouta rose his eyebrows. "What's wrong with you? There's nothing wrong with the food. It's tasty, right Mahiro?"

Hakase nodded but said nothing.

Midorima looked at the manager. "It's been a while, Hakase-kun."

"It definitely has." He replied, a neutral tone to his voice. Seirin and everyone else stopped what they were doing. All along they were wondering who was the boy, but they've got an inkling. If Midorima knows him, that means he went to Teikou. But, he isn't a part of the Generation of Miracles, so did he play basketball as well?

Ryouta looked back and forth Hakase and Midorima. In his world, he was "associates" with Prince Shintarou, but his Mahiro never met the green-haired boy.

"Given that this blond is with you, what made you come watch our match?"

Hakase smiled. "Scouting."

Midorima was surprised. Back in Teikou, Hakase wasn't in any sport club, so what caused the change in High school? Plus, when he went to watch Kaijou's practice match with Seirin, he saw Hakase in the crowds watching. He wasn't even near the court.

"You're a player now? Or…?"

"Manager." Hakase said. "Me? A player? You must be joking."

Ignoring the two, Kagami took up his menu and started to order. Hearing the long string of words, Ryouta, Hakase and Midorima were taken from the conversation.

"You're ordering too much!" Midorima shouted, in hopes that he'll stop.

"Is that an incantation or something?" Ryouta asked, curious. "It's pretty long."

The others put in their orders as well, and when their food arrived, Midorima still hadn't touched it. Ryouta stared at the green-haired shooter and sighed.

"Midi-chan, aren't you going to eat? You can't go on a hunger strike here."

Midorima spluttered in shock. "Midi-chan?! Don't call me that!"

Ryouta looked across to Hakase who face-palmed. He then messaged the boy, informing him of the correct way Kise addresses everyone who he respects. Ryouta cringed and twisted his face in disgust, and refused to call him "Midorimacchi". It sounded awful, and plus, he's always called Prince Shintarou "Midi-chan" (although he tells him not to every time they managed to meet).

"Alright, Shintarou. I won't call you that." Ryouta said with a sigh. Hakase threw his head backwards and dragged a hand over his face.

"I didn't give you permission to use my given name either."

Ryouta was fed up. Why is this boy being so difficult? "Fuck! Fine then! _Midorima._ " he spat. "Satisfied now?"

Midorima drew back, surprised at that outburst. Seirin looked across to their table as well. Kuroko looked at Kise with narrowed eyes, and wondered what happened to the blond. He looked like Kise, but he wasn't behaving like him. To change the subject and the atmosphere, Hakase asked,

"Midorima-kun, aren't you going to eat? It'll burn, you know?"

"I'm not in the mood." Midorima grumbled. "I just lost to him!" He raised his voice here. "If anything, I can't believe you have no problem sitting with him!" he said as he looked to Ryouta.

"So what? I lost once, the world still goes on." The Prince shrugged. "All I have to do is bust their ass the next time we meet, right?"

Hearing the blond say that, lit a fire inside Kagami, "Ha! Bring it on!"

"Kise...you've changed a little." Midorima said, looking at the blond boy.

"Hmm? Is that so?"

"Your eyes...they're strange."

Ryouta stopped eating and gawked at Midorima. "My eyes are still gorgeous, thank you very much." but he added, "Maybe you're seeing the joy and excitement I'm feeling just thinking about beating that redhead in basketball."

Midorima sighed. "It seems I was mistaken. You have not changed at all. You have simply reverted to a state before our three consecutive championships."

Ryouta stared yet again. "Reverted? Dude, playing basketball is fun. What's wrong with that?"

"How you change is up to you." Midorima huffed. "However, I'm not playing basketball for fun."

"You poor soul." Ryouta said with pity. "Basketball is extremely fun. Sports were created for fun and entertainment. If you aren't playing for fun, then why are playing any at all? Are you just doing it for the spectators who watch to give them a good show?" Ryouta asked. "If that's the case, I feel sorry for you. If you want to be an entertainer, why don't you into that industry? Don't waste your time with a sport if you don't like it."

Suddenly, the air got heavy. Hakase stared at the blond who was oblivious as to what he just stirred up. He continued to stuff his face with Okonomiyaki, clueless to Midorima's rage. Luckily, before he could reply, Takao, who was busy flipping his food, had landed on top of Midorima's hair. This distracted the boy from Ryouta, and he said in rather commanding voice,

"Takao come here."

"Sorry! Sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Takao wailed as he was being hauled outside by Midorima.

Looking at the boy, Ryouta could see some similarities to the Kazunari of his world, although Kazunari is a female. He then heard a scream from the outside which sounded like Takao's voice. After a couple seconds, the two Shutoku players walked in, Midorima looking like nothing happened.

When he took his seat, he asked Ryouta, "What happened to you? You are not the Kise I know."

"What can I say?" Ryouta shrugged. "I came from another world and switched places with your Ryouta. Does that satisfy you?"

"Kise!" Midorima roared, tired of the blond's antics. Although Kise had a playful nature, there was something off about the one facing him. "Who are you?!" he looked to Hakase and asked, "Who's he? Kise isn't this repulsive!"

Hakase shrugged. "He's Kise Ryouta."

"This green-haired fucker." Ryouta shrieked as he rose to his feet. "Who the fuck are you calling repulsive?"

"Ryouta. Be a good boy and sit." Hakase said, trying to do some damage control and calm down the boy.

"But Mahiro, he called me repulsive." Ryouta hissed. "I need to rip his fucking tongue out for such impertinence!"

Hakase wanted to remind the Prince that he wasn't in his Kingdom, but he couldn't say it. "Ryouta, impertinence cannot be applied here. Nor can you rip his tongue out. His father will sue yours and well...it wouldn't be pretty."

"But it's his fault! How the fuck can he call me repulsive!? First he comes in here bitching about everything around him just because he lost a fucking match and now he calls me repulsive?" Ryouta was close to blowing a fuse. Well, he always was. As though working in tandem with each other, both Kasamatsu and Hakase got up, and bade farewell to Seirin, Midorima and Takao. They hauled Ryouta with them, the blond complaining that he needed to kill Midorima first. With a food bribe from Hakase, he sprang out of his seat and threw the boy over his shoulder while grabbing onto Kasamatsu's wrist.

The trio exited the restaurant, leaving everyone gaping in shock.

Kuroko and Midorima were staring at the door, unable to believe that the blond boy who had been present was Kise. No matter how angry Kise may get, he'd never behave like that, as a matter of fact, even though their friendship had become a bit strained, Kise would _never_ speak to Midorima, nor any one of them like that. So, the question on everyone's mind was:

Who the hell was that?

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review!**_


	19. Hopes and Plans

_**A/N: Thank you for all your reviews, faves and follows!**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

* * *

Chapter 19

 _Hopes and Plans_

…

 _[While Ryouta was playing Inter-High prelim matches]_

Kise's eyes fluttered open to take in the sight before him. He didn't know where he was, but what he could tell was that the scenery was beautiful. Above was the star-studded night sky, littered with cosmic dust trails of blue, purple and light red. It continued on for what seemed like an eternity, unending...infinite. The small stars glimmered like jewels ―like a million rhinestones, the larger ones shone with glorious incandescence. The whimsical clouds were a soft blue colour, seeming to reach towards something in the distance.

His eyes trailed to the horizon in the distance, a bright blue-ish purple light catching his attention. It seemed to be a setting sun, although Kise could feel no warmth from the light. He moved off to it, but at that moment, the ground caught his attention. It reflected the sky above so much so that he felt as though he wasn't standing on anything solid but floating.

He felt like he was standing in the middle of a grand celestial space...a galaxy.

Kise was awed by his surroundings, and was speechless. He wondered what caused him to end up here, and silently prayed that he hadn't died. His feet moved off, walking without purpose, walking towards the only thing that he thought he could reach.

Just then, he heard the sound of a train, screeching on its rails. Looking up, Kise saw a white Shinkansen travelling from the horizon overhead in the sky. The train seemed endless, its head passing by Kise, but the end of it seemed to be at the horizon. It moved as though there were rails to hold it in place, and as it passed by, what seemed to be comets rained down and shot across the sky, creating a beautiful scene.

"Hello, Your Highness." A voice spoke from behind him. It was neither young nor old, deep nor high-pitched, happy nor angry. Turning around, Kise saw a tall man, with long white hair that reached his knees. His left hair fringe extended down to his chest, his red eyes seemed friendly. The man was clothed in full white and silver ―a white shirt tucked into white pants with a silver cloth belt around his waist. His knee-high boots were silver as well, and draped over his shoulder was what seemed to be a white cape, held together by a single button at the neck area.

"Hello." Kise greeted. "Where is this place?" he asked, his eyes looking all over.

"Your world." the man replied.

"Eh?" Kise was taken aback by that response. "I died and became a god or something?"

The man laughed. "No. You're very much alive." he said. "This is your inner world. The true essence of your soul."

Kise gripped the fabric of his chest in shock. "The true essence of my soul?" he said in disbelief. Looking around, he couldn't believe it. "I thought it would have been a basketball court or something."

"Basketball doesn't define who you are." the man said with a lazy shrug.

"But a fantastical galaxy world does, huh?" Kise said with an eye roll. "By the way, who are you? And what are you doing here?"

The man smiled and said, "I am both Shirotsuchi Kaito..." he suddenly disappeared only to reappear beside Kise, "...and Kise Ryouta." Kise was jolted when he heard his own voice and was even more frightened when he saw himself looking back at him. Only thing is, the other one had white hair and red eyes.

Kise was gaping in horror. "What…?"

This was all too sudden. It would have been better if this was the afterlife. But no, it's his inner world and a male who claims to be Shirotsuchi Kaito and himself is standing before him. Kise was beyond confused. How is he supposed to react to this? Should he be angry that his creepy classmate took on a different form and is in his inner world? Hell, should he even believe that this place is real? That this place is what the man claims it to be?

Kaito then urged as if able to read his mind, "Calm down, Ryouta."

"Are you lying to me?" Kise asked, taking steps back from Kaito. "Shirotsuchi didn't look like that, and how do I know that this isn't some illusion?"

Kaito smiled and a strange wind surrounded him after which it dissipated. The Kaito who Kise knew stood before him with that childish smirk of his, "Yo. Is this better?"

"Don't "is this better?" me!" Kise roared. "I need to ―"

"Try to create something." Kaito then said. "Will into being that something you want."

"Excuse me?"

"You want proof that this is your inner world, right?" Kaito smirked. "Then, do what I just told you."

Kise didn't answer. Thinking that this may be true, Kise held out his hand and willed for a basketball to appear. Kaito wouldn't be able to know what's in his mind, right? A second after, the orange ball appeared and a smile emerged on Kise's face. It's been such a long time that he's felt a basketball, and the feeling was so nostalgic.

"So, do you believe me now?" Kaito asked, standing akimbo.

Kise huffed and folded his arms. "Fine."

"Good." Kaito smiled. "But now, I'm sure that you're wondering why I'm here and all this is happening."

"Then you don't need me to tell you to get talking." Kise hissed, materializing "Kaizer" from his spatial ring. He realized that he was being careless by leaving himself defenceless.

Kaito laughed. "I'm a Seirei, and the one who everyone knows as "White Canvas"." Kise's eyebrows rose. "The reason you're seeing me here is because I performed a Divine Possession on you. And you were slowly dying because of a poison Daiki placed in your body." he continued, "We're here because when I took over your body, your soul came here for the time being."

Kise cringed. "Possession?" he then asked, "Is there anything beneficial to this?" From his knowledge from Earth, possessions are never anything good.

"Rest assured, I'm not any malignant spiritual being. I'm sure you can tell the difference between a Seirei from what you people on Earth call "Demons"." he continued, "The beneficial thing about this is that you are able to use my magic as well."

"Your magic?" Kise's eyes widened. "As in, your fancy white earth magic?"

Kaito nodded. "And don't call it "fancy white earth magic"."

"But isn't it just Earth Magic that happens to be white?"

"Yes. But it's different from the standard that you know of. There's a reason people gave me the moniker "White Canvas". The moment I touch the earth, I can create anything as though I am an artist, painting on a brand new canvas."

"Wow." Kise said in awe. "Then, can that still be called Earth Magic? Isn't that more like Creation Magic or something?"

Kaito laughed. "Whatever you want to think. Now, I think it's time for you to wake up."

"Huh? Wait!"

Like that, the world disappeared into pitch black and Kise's eyes opened wide. Propping himself up onto his elbows, he howled out in pain as his muscles were aching. Falling back to the bed, Kise placed his face into the crook of his arm.

The last thing he remembered was getting his ass handed to him by this world's Aomine Daiki. Although he managed to hold his own against the tanned boy, eventually, he was overpowered and ended up losing. What happened after Daiki's hand covered his nose and mouth was a mystery.

Rolling onto his sides, Kise felt despondent. Although he was being taught magic, and spearmanship and everything needed for him to blend in as the Prince, encountering Daiki made him realize he had a long way to go. He was quite sure, using how other people talked about the Prince, that maybe, if it were him there instead, Daiki wouldn't have been able to overpower him so much.

Taking this time to look at his surroundings, Kise realized that he was in an unfamiliar room, with no windows. He got up and jumped off the bed, ignoring the pain he was feeling. However, he noticed something odd about his body.

His hair.

His front bangs were long enough to his chest, and when he took hold of his hair on his head, he saw that it had grown all the way down to his knees. Fretting, he stumbled towards the door, hoping for an answer. There's no way he could be unconscious for a short space time and his hair had grown out so much. As he neared the door, he heard a mechanical voice say,

« _Your Highness, please return to your bed immediately._ »

Remembering the last time he was in the hospital, Kise obeyed. As he lay in his bed, he kept thinking on what happened earlier with Kaito in that galaxy-like place, and looked at his body. He wondered if he had been dreaming, but at the same time, it felt so real.

"Ryouta-kun, you're up."

He looked to the door and saw Tetsuya. Around her arms and legs she had bandages that glowed a soft blue colour. Seeing how she looked tired and exhausted, Kise's heart shook. He never wanted to see Kurokocchi back in Japan in such a state and it's even worse seeing his female counterpart so.

"What happened to you?" he asked, sitting up.

Tetsuya sighed as she took a seat beside his bed. "I fought the bastard Aomine and lost. Taiga-chan too." Kise paled. But Tetsuya continued, "We're all safe and sound. Thanks to Tachibana-sensei who arrived in time, they retreated."

"Oh." Was all Kise could utter. The two fell into silence as neither knew what to say. Tetsuya found this strange, since every chance that the blond got, he'd strike up a conversation with her. It was no secret that he was after her, after all, she was his proclaimed future wife. "Sorry."

"Don't be too depressed about it." she said, catching the look on his face. "No one's blaming you for anything. It's understandable that you wouldn't have been able to handle Daiki. I fought him so I know."

"But ―!"

"Make sure you return the favour next time around." She smiled. "I'm pretty sure that the Kise family never fails in that aspect, right?"

It ached Kise's heart.

Not because he and Daiki weren't friends in this world, he was pissed that he wasn't strong enough. If he was, then Tetsuya wouldn't have had to face him. What if she had died in the process? Daiki seemed like a heartless bastard, almost reminiscent of his earthly counterpart's behaviour in their latter days of Teikou.

Just then, the door slid open viciously to reveal King Ryouhei who had a worried and mortified look on his face. He dashed towards the blond boy and embraced him in a bone crushing hug.

"I'm so glad that you're alright." King Ryouhei said in a soft voice. "Now tell me, who was it that hurt you." his voice was laced with anger here. "I want every single detail."

"I...it was Aomine Daiki." Kise replied. "Before that, there were some people dressed in full black who tried to drug me."

King Ryouhei and Tetsuya's eyebrows rose in confusion. "People tried to drug you?"

Kise nodded. "Immediately after we got separated, I was attacked. I didn't even have the time to assess my surroundings."

"Oh." King Ryouhei nodded. He then ruffled his hair and smiled. "Don't worry about anything, Ryouta. Daddy will be sure to catch these fuckers and show them hell, alright? If you want, you could sit back and watch as I slaughter them, okay?"

Kise looked away. "Papacchi, can you do me a favour?"

"Just name it. As long as it's legal."

Kise started to fidget with his fingers. He looked a bit shy or something, and the King knew just what he wanted to ask. After all, his son is the same. But, although he knew, he wanted to hear it from the boy's mouth.

"Well, I'm weak. And I want to...get...stronger..." Kise mumbled underneath his breath. He never liked asking for help, especially from the King who was his other father. He hadn't known this man as long as he did with his father on Earth, and well, his pride was killing him.

The King made a sadistic face and rubbed his cheek gingerly. "Don't worry, I'll make you into a monster." Kise flinched in horror. Why did he just kill himself off? "But what caused this? You seem a bit adamant about this."

Kise made a dark chuckle. "I hate Aomine Daiki." he said. Although looking at the Daiki of this world was like seeing Aomine of Earth, Kise hated the tanned boy's guts. He had hurt his future wife, obviously, he isn't going to forgive a single soul for that. "Do you need another reason?"

"Nope!" King Ryouhei perked. "Hatred is the best reason there is!" The King then turned to Tetsuya with a wicked smile. "You along with the rest of the club can help as well, right?" She nodded. "Great!"

"And another thing," Kise started, "I can use Wind Magic."

"About that," King Ryouhei started. "You actually have two magics. Wind and Lightning."

"Huh? How is that possible?" Kise asked. "Isn't it impossible for Ningen to have dual magic? Shouldn't it be the same with Humans too?"

"I don't know, but from what I guess, it's probably because of the Divine Possession." The King replied. Kise perked up. Then that meant, what he saw earlier wasn't a dream. "And that's why your hair has grown out so much."

"Oh. How fast can I get a haircut?" Kise then asked. "It's annoying."

King Ryouhei sighed. "No matter how many times I tell you, you just don't listen, do you?" He then grinned, "You are the Third Prince. If you want something to be done, you just command it and no one _can_ deny you."

"Well, excuse me for being a Human and living on Earth where I'm no Prince." Kise said with an eye roll.

"Boy, did you just roll your eyes at me?" King Ryouhei asked with a stern voice. Tetsuya pushed back her chair to escape any crossfire that may happen. It was common knowledge that the King was a strict father and once his boys misbehaved, they were subjected to punishment. "You _didn't_ just roll your eyes at me."

Kise flinched and the colour drained out of his face. "No Sir."

"Thought so." he hummed. "Alright, I'll leave you two love birds to catch up. Bye, bye~!" King Ryouhei sang waving to both Tetsuya and Kise.

"We're not love birds, Your Majesty." Tetsuya deadpanned, Kise felt like she stabbed him with a knife in his heart.

The King made a smirk. "Yet." he said. "Plus, I've already set your wedding date, and your dress is being worked on. You can only be stubborn for so long and no more, Tetsuya-san." With a playful wave, he skipped out of the room, Kise nearly tearing up in joy. He was loving his new father more and more.

Tetsuya shot him an angered glare, and he shrunk away from her immediately. Her face softened into an adorable smile after which she asked, "How are you feeling now?"

"I'm in pain." Kise answered. "I don't think I'll be able to move about normally today." He then asked, "Why are those bandages glowing?"

"Because they're healing my injuries. They are imbued with Water Magic, so it continuously heals as long as I have it on."

"Oh." Day by day, this world keeps surprising Kise. Their technology is so far ahead of Earth's, he's stopped comparing the two worlds in an attempt to remember some of these.

"Yeah." She got up and headed towards the door. "Prepare yourself, once the King begins "turning you into a monster", you'll be in for a terrible time."

"I know. I'm just praying that I don't die." Kise shuddered. "But, if the real Prince hasn't died, then I don't see why I will."

"Alright." She smiled.

"Hey, Tetsuya," Kise called. He couldn't add the -cchi because the last time he did, she always drowned him with her magic. Her reason, it doesn't sound cute. "Would you go out with me? Please?"

She paused. Looking back at all the times she's spent with him, she's found that he wasn't as terrible as the real Third Prince. He had his annoying moments, but after she got to know him better, she found him tolerable. The Third Prince, on the other hand, drove her up the wall (as he did with everyone) and had her thinking about ways to kill him without leaving any evidence. So, she thought, why not give this one a chance.

"Okay." she responded.

"WHOO!" Kise couldn't contain his delight. So many days of hard work, blood, sweat and tears and finally, she's accepted his invitation to go on a date. He finally made the first step. Although, he'd have to ask his brothers for help since he didn't know anywhere.

However, unbeknownst to them, the King was outside, eavesdropping. "I can't wait to see what their children will look like." he said, almost tearing up.

…

After Tetsuya left, Kise was visited by Ryouma and Ryouji, the two boys were just as psychotic as their father. The two asked for detailed descriptions of his attackers, and asked if he wanted to watch them getting slaughtered, just like the King had asked earlier. Kise declined, only saying that he'd like to exact revenge on Daiki. Neither boy had an issue with that, and planned to help the King turn him into slaughtering machine.

It was here that Kise got an idea of how destructive the real Third Prince was, as he was classed as being the miniature version of the King. Kise started to fret for Japan's safety as with someone like that loose, he won't rule out the possibility of his counterpart attempting to sink his country.

Following his brothers' visit, his mother, the Queen came. And like the one on Earth, she smothered him with her love, and almost suffocated him within her breasts. She sped up his healing process with her magic, although the doctors and nurses were against it. She even took a selfie with him, since now that Kise's hair was extremely long, the Queen wanted to snap this moment as "What if Ryouta was born a girl?".

The rest of his clubmates visited as well, all of which were upset that they hadn't been there. Yukio and Taiga almost burnt down the room and Yoshitaka and Shinya had to be the ones to calm them down. Shinji, Rinnosuke, and the other members who Kise realized were apart of Seirin basketball club all wished him a safe recovery and such, cheering him up as they saw that he was down. Riko was the last person that visited, and the club president was pretty sad that they were defeated. But Riko told him that he used the "540 Spinning Hook Kick" and it worked like a charm. Kise was relieved that it did, although Riko was the only other person that he was teaching Martial Arts apart from his brothers.

As the time passed by his visitors left, leaving him alone yet again. Or so he thought.

"Yo!"

Kise was startled by the voice. He looked to the left wall and saw Kaito, standing with his arms folded. However, this Kaito didn't have the appearance of his classmate, but the appearance of the man in his inner world. He also seemed a bit transparent.

"Hey." Kise said lazily.

"What kind of greeting is that?!" he pouted. "Aren't you glad to see me?"

"No."

Kaito sighed. "Fine. But I heard Ryouhei-san saying that he'll turn you into a monster. I can teach you magic." he grinned. "Well, how to use and control my Earth Magic. Due to the rigidity of my magic, I doubt I'll be of use to help you learn Wind and Lightning."

"Uh huh."

"But, that's where the King comes in."

"Yeah."

Kaito's eyebrows twitched. "You can't be depressed forever, _Your Highness_." He said as he moved closer to Kise. "They'll be coming back for you. Chances are, they have a million and one plans to fall back on. All you have to do is learn what you can about this world and get stronger." Kaito looked down on Kise with a stern expression. "You have more weapons in your arsenal than anyone else. Wind, Lightning and White Earth. Plus, you have six different Spears, all of which are made for a different type of enemy. No matter how good a spy may be, they won't be able to know that Third Prince Ryouta has six Spears or three elements at his disposal."

"Ah, you're right about that."

"And I have a feeling that Ryouhei-san will probably grant you another weapon or two more."

"Huh? Why?"

"You wouldn't know, but the real Third Prince has like four different sets of weapons in his spatial ring."

Kise's eyes widened. "Four?!"

"Yeah, his most proficient set are the Spears, his second best are his Whips, followed by his Maces and last his bow and arrows." Kaito chuckled. "The little shit wanted to be an invincible all-rounder but there are just too many weapons around. And the King doesn't want to spend money unnecessarily."

Kise almost laughed. The other Ryouta wanted to be an all-rounder. They were so similar that Kise was starting to wonder if he didn't have the upbringing that he did, would he have turned out like the Prince as well?

But getting rid of those thoughts, he asked, "How am I able to see you out here? If you've possessed me, shouldn't you be unable to come back out or something?"

Kaito laughed and shook his head. "Nope. While I can't get my entire body out until you die, I can project a part of my "will" to communicate."

"Oh. I see." Kise nodded. He didn't press any further, the workings of this world is far out of his league.

"Don't worry Prince, the longer you stay here, you'll understand." Kaito said with a reassuring smile. "But for now rest up, because the moment you're discharged from here, you'll be subjected harsh training."

Kise laughed. "I'm used to it. Basketball practices are brutal, both in middle school and high school."

"You fool!" Kaito roared with laughter. "This is nothing compared to practices! The King and your brothers are merciless motherfuckers, you know? Plus with the Queen being able to use Healing Magic, you'll be sent to Heaven and back on numerous occasions."

Hearing that, to say that Kise wanted to die would be an understatement.

"Give me a break."

…

Momoi Satsuya was known to be a man who loved his country. Following after his family, the Kingdom of Touou would be the second most important thing in the man's life. And due to this love, he strove to become Prime Minister so that he could improve his country for the citizens that dwell here.

However, there was one man that seemed to ignore his advise these days. This man was the King of Touou ―Aomine Daisuke. He was a tan skinned man with short dark blue hair and deep blue eyes. He had an arrogant nature about him, although, some may argue that it was overwhelming confidence. After all, arrogance and confidence are two sides of the same coin.

Still, at this very moment, Satsuya was standing within the King's private office, trying to persuade him. Weeks ago, his son ―Momoi Satsuki along with five others including Crown Prince Daiki were sent to Kaijou for a mission. This mission was to capture Third Prince Ryouta and bring him to the designated area where he could be used as a means of leverage against King Ryouhei.

The Kaijou Kingdom was the most blessed in the entire Teikou Continent. Their soils are fertile and is able to grow anything despite the season, they have all the precious and semi-precious gems that one could think of (and even those that no one knew about), they have water and rivers in abundance which gave them their name "Land of Many Waters". They are the envy of every country found on this continent, however, more so to Touou than anyone else.

This is the very reason why the Kings of Touou had always tried a way to get their hands on Kaijou's territory or "White Canvas". Their country is a desert, through and through, making agriculture impossible. The only thing they have is an outrageous abundance of oil, which is used as the main export to nearly twenty countries ―including all the countries on the Continent. But, the people of Touou have always wanted to farm their own produce, plant flowers to beautify their places and things like those.

For this reason, they have tried to forcibly take Kaijou. It always ended in failure, however six years ago, they were one step away from succeeding. Third Prince Ryouta had been captured and taken to the Maldives and held there as an attempt to throw off the King into thinking that Touou had nothing to do with it.

However, something happened that they never saw coming.

In his blind rage, the mad King had destroyed the nation, charring everything and everyone (that was not Ryouta) into black ash. And after King Ryouhei had rescued his boy, his wife Queen Ritsuko and General Aida and their divisions sunk the islands using their Water and Earth Magics, ensuring that there were no survivors.

It was a dark and chilling tale, and it left a bitter taste in everyone's mouth (except Kaijou).

When Satsuya had first heard of the mission, he was strongly against it. The entire world knows that King Ryouhei was not to be provoked. Many times, he and (late) Emperor Kazuma of Rakuzan left people wondering who the most psychotic was. And for him to be compared to an Emperor of Rakuzan, must mean that he had a million screws loose.

"Your Majesty, I implore you, call them back from this mission. They're just children." the dark haired man begged, his bright magenta eyes were cloudy with worry. "If anything, can't you negotiate with King Ryouhei? If you continue on this path, there may be dire consequences awaiting this country. I'm pretty sure you haven't forgotten what happened six years ago to the Maldives?"

"Excuse me?" the tan skinned man snapped. He spun around in his swivel chair to directly face Satsuya, rage apparent in his dark blue eyes. "Are you _telling_ me what I should do? I am the King of Touou not you." he hissed. His face then took a judgemental look, "Or is that your loyalty lies somewhere else? Which is it, Satsuya?"

Satsuya froze up. "It's neither, Your Majesty." He responded with a bow. "I crave your pardon for my insolence."

"Hmph." the King said as he turned around and continued to look through the window at the beautiful courtyard below. Although Satsuya said what he just did, he wasn't at all sorry for speaking out. All he was concerned about were the well-being of his country and the children that were sent out on such a dangerous mission. Satsuya needed to call it off, but he was in no position to do so. He couldn't even go behind King Daisuke's back because if he ever found out, not only he, but his entire family will be dealt with.

He _couldn't_ risk that.

Just then they heard a rhythmic knock coming from the door. King Daisuke responded and the messenger walked in. He gave the King a sealed envelope after which Satsuya saw the man open it and read its contents. Immediately, King Daisuke's face twisted with anger. Using his Water Magic, he enclosed the letter into a ball of water, effectively dissolving it into nothing.

Satsuya had no idea what was on that letter, but seeing the messenger who delivered it, he knew that it was about the "mission". But if he should judge using the King's expression, it couldn't be good news.

"Satsuya," King Daisuke said, rubbing his temples.

"Yes, Your Majesty?"

"As soon as the dawn breaks tomorrow, I want you to contact Katsunori. Tell him that if "Konan" and his team don't bring Ryouta to me by the time the Festival should begin, I'll do things my way."

Satsuya shivered when he met the King's gaze. "Yes Sir." he said with a bow and promptly left. The Festival begins in two weeks, so Satsuya knew that this "Konan" guy had to work fast and effective. However, the Prime Minister wasn't worried about that. If this capture ends up becoming successful, then it's going to lead to an all-out war. King Ryouhei will slaughter everything in his path ―if possible, the man would even break down God's door for his child.

"No..." Satsuya said as he shook his head, he paused and leaned on the wall. "...I have to prevent that at all cost. But how?" It was then that it clicked to him. "Konan" was an alias used by Touou's co-conspirator. He was an inside man within the Palace, but sadly, Satsuya didn't know his true identity. All he knew was that he was a tall blonde haired child with red eyes in his late twenties. And somehow, this "Konan" had managed to get a couple Ministers from the government on his side, which makes him all the more formidable.

Still, if Touou had someone on the inside leaking the necessary information about Kaijou to them, then all he had to do was become Kaijou's inside man on Touou. And he knew the right persons to persuade.

Exiting from the Royal Palace, Satsuya hurriedly made his way home, after which he showered and then started to write on a sheet of paper. His penmanship wasn't the best at the moment, since he was in a rush. But, for authenticity, he sighed the bottom and stamped it. When he was done, he called for one of his trusted servants.

"You'll head to Kaijou, and deliver this any one of the Generals. Please, you have to hurry."

"Yes, my Lord." the tall male bowed and briskly left.

Satsuya glanced at his watch and saw that it was a minute past midday ―08:01 pm, and he prayed that the servant made it before the Generals get scarce. Apart from the King, Satsuya knew four other persons who were always obstructing Touou's path, and were doing a damn good job at it, the Three Great Generals ―Aida Kagetora, Kasamatsu Mitsurou and Takeuchi Genta along with Chief of Police ―Kuroko Hikaru.

"Please..." he mumbled to himself. "...you lot are my last hope."

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review!**_


	20. Kaijou's Prince meets Kaijou's Ace

_**A/N: Thank you for all your faves, follows and reviews!**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

* * *

Chapter 20

 _Kaijou's Prince meets Kaijou's Ace._

….

 _[Meanwhile in Japan]..._

The following week after Ryouta, Hakase and Kasamatsu went to watch Seirin vs. Touou, their lives returned to normal. Of course, in practice, Hakase was ruthless with Ryouta, Kasamatsu and the rest of Kaijou joining in to deliver his punishment. No matter how many times they warned the boy to watch his tongue and behaviour, Ryouta never listens. They drilled him ceaselessly since he was of a different specie with a lot more stamina, strength and speed. Ryouta never liked this one bit, but he was smart enough to not complain as that would piss of Hakase and Kasamatsu even further.

But apart from basketball, Ryouta's school life carried on without incident. He pulled through the classes with ease, he spoke and interacted with Kise's fangirls without attempting to strangle them most times, he ate lunch in peace with Hakase and the Kaijou team. Another thing that has become some sort of routine is the fact that Ryouta (and in the case of the volleyball team, Hakase) has to be running away from members of the various sport clubs.

Before school began, during lunch time and after school the two boys can be seen sprinting like thieves from another crowd of males, it was hilarious for the onlookers since Hakase was always slung over Ryouta's shoulder or held bridal style by the blond. However, none of this would have happened if Hakase had let Ryouta have free reign. When Takeuchi had talked to them about it, Ryouta actually wanted to join all the clubs, but Hakase refused to let him.

Ryouta understood the reason, but he still didn't care; Hakase just didn't trust Ryouta enough to be calm and collected. He knows that at the slightest provocation, Ryouta isn't hesitant to slaughter.

As the week dwindled down, Hakase hauled the Kaijou regulars with him to the Science Club whenever he could, being that Ryouta had joined from earlier on, and Hakase needed his Countermeasures Team with him to handle the Prince. But, since the Club was preparing for the "Imagine Cup" competition, the Advisor didn't really care that a bunch of basketball idiots were joining. He saw them as extra hands.

When Ryouta reached home, he continued working on his plan to connect his Kingdom with Japan. The more he interacts with Kaijou, Hakase and other schoolmates, explore all the different places, play basketball, he realized that the other Ryouta must be seriously suffering. To be forcibly ripped away from all this and get thrown into a maelstrom must've been overwhelming. And as such, he's trying his best to make this work, for Kise's sake.

It was now Friday, and as usual, Hakase and Ryouta were in his other room, chatting about varying topics. But the main subject of their conversation was about the other sport clubs. Ever since Ryouta visited them, different members from the different clubs ―be it captains and vice-captains, aces and managers, Hakase and Ryouta were hounded by them day in, day out. However, there was one who stood out for the two boys and that was the vice-captain of the volleyball club ―Maeda Tae Syun.

While he helped them to chase away the others, he had always claimed that it was the volleyball club that they had visited first, which meant that, should Ryouta and Hakase join any other club, it'll be his. Hakase was not too fond of this, but Ryouta didn't mind. He had even told the second-year that maybe after Inter-High, he'll think about it.

"Are you serious about that?" Hakase asked. Ryouta nodded vigorously. "Be more considerate. You have stamina and strength in abundance, think about the poor human boy here."

"Aww, come on Mahiro! I don't want to be cooped up playing basketball only! Let's do volleyball too!" Ryouta whined. "Plus, this way, I can play _with_ you! It'll be fun!"

"You know, after Inter-High you have Winter Cup to prepare for, right?"

"Huh? _Another one_? What's up with you people?!"

Hakase sighed. "While I would love to play volleyball with you, I can't. I have to manage the basketball club and do scouting, plus we have Science Club as well. Add to that, we have the "Imagine Cup" next month."

"Oh. Right." Ryouta deflated. But then, he perked up, "In the competition, we can enter as pairs or teams right?" Hakase nodded. "Then that means, why don't you, me and the Senpai form a team and we enter to represent our school?" Ryouta then added, "It's not like the club has figured out what they want to enter with, anyway."

"Ryouta..." Hakase started, rubbing his temples. "...you're planning on making something, right?"

"Yup!"

"Is it humanly possible?"

"Nope! I'm a Ningen! But, I'm thinking of making something basic! It'll be a simple engineering ―"

"You do realize that if you make something out of this world, it'll probably draw unwanted attention to you ―to us, right?"

"Calm down Mahiro," Ryouta fanned, "I was planning on making a simple simulation device. You can trust me, I did Engineering at school, you know? We _know_ how to make these things."

"But we don't have these devices here! Don't you see that?!"

"That's the whole point of the "Imagine Cup" right? Creating things that didn't exist prior." Ryouta countered smoothly. "Or do you want me to make a cellphone with an AI? All I'll need is a cellphone, I can create the AI myself. It may not be as awesome as Kei, but trust me, you Humans will piss your pants."

Hakase blanched. The cellphone with the AI is worse. "Fine, simulation device it is."

"Yay!" he chirped and embraced Hakase in a bear hug. "I love you~!"

"Yeah, yeah, me too." He said nonchalantly. "Now that that's over with, help with me with our math homework."

"Oh right." Ryouta drawled and took out their bags out of his spatial ring. "I still can't believe how unreasonable your country is to its students."

Hakase rose his eyebrows. "Unreasonable? How?"

"Getting homework!" the blond shrieked. "In my Kingdom, we don't get homework! How are we supposed to study, find time for extracurricular activities and do homework for the next day?! It's extremely unfair."

"Well, it's always been that way. And it's in every country that I know of. Homework is a means of study too, you know?"

Ryouta put on a deadpan expression. "Seriously?" he sighed. "Whenever you do homework, isn't it all about getting the work done to avoid punishment?"

Hakase laughed. Ryouta hit the nail squarely on the head. Without wasting any more time on useless conversations, the two boys completed their homework, of course, Ryouta teaching Hakase the parts he didn't understand. After that, the Prince got up, stretched and took out a notebook from his spatial ring. Quickly flipping the pages, he then found his work and sighed. He had a rough plan of what he thought would work, but first, he needed to test something out. He remembered what Ryouji had suggested to him, by trying to feed Mana to the two magic circles on the floor.

Walking over to them, Ryouta began his work. He stood at the edge of the one on the floor and with an arm stretched upwards, he started to channel his Mana. Not knowing what the results may be, Hakase stood by the door, in hopes of ducking for cover and escape should anything blow up.

Slowly, they saw a bright light illuminating from the two circles ―the kanji and symbols lit up magnificently. Hakase was clueless as to what was happening, but nonetheless, it still looked like something amazing out of a manga. Lightning was crackling all over Ryouta's body, but even though what he did looked strenuous, there wasn't a single sweat on his face nor was there any pained expression.

However, a blinding light flashed and a something like a shockwave of Mana sent the Prince staggering backwards into a bookshelf, effectively displacing a couple books onto the floor. When he looked about the room, he saw that there was a thick misty condensation of Mana on the floor, spreading even into his bedroom. But, a second later, it receded into the magic circles as though time was being reversed.

"What…?" Ryouta asked in shock as he looked at the circles.

There was a thick pillar of light extending from the magic circle on the floor to the one on the ceiling. Its colour seemed to be mostly white with a faint tint of yellow to it. He moved cautiously around it, attempting to reach for the chair that was nearby. But, Ryouta discovered something even more scarier that nearly made his heart fail.

Hakase was lying on the floor on his sides, twitching rapidly.

"Mahiro!" Ryouta screeched frantically as he dashed to the boy's side. Flipping him onto his back, Ryouta saw that he was bleeding from his nose and mouth. Panicking, Ryouta tried to get Hakase to wake up but failed. It was then that he realized what happened, and turned to look at the pillar. With determined eyes, he took up Hakase bridal style and walked towards the pillar. This was the only way he knew Hakase could be saved.

But as soon as he reached up to it, someone stumbled out, causing him to lose balance and fall. Seeing the person's face, he broke out in joy.

"Ji-nii! I need your help!"

"Huh?" Ryouji asked, looking stupefied.

 _xxxx_

After Kise was discharged, he was subjected intense training from the King, both in Spear Arts and Lightning Magic. Although Kaito is with him, King Ryouhei still doesn't want to leave Kise completely defenceless he should get attacked again. And thanks to his fast learning capabilities, Kise caught on, giving the King and Queen a sense of relief. Kise's proficiency with "Kaizer" and "Benevolence" got to the mastery level, while with the other four, he was only excellent. But "excellent" doesn't exist in the King's book. He knew how savage and brutal Touou could get, so he needed Kise to be up to par in due time. Still, that didn't mean he wasn't proud of the boy.

By now, his subjects were tired of hearing the King boast about his son.

When Kise wasn't training with the Monarch, he was learning from Shun, Yoshitaka and Shinya how to control his Air Magic, as the King is unable to help due to him being a Lightning Mage. It was somewhat manageable, given that the procedure for controlling Mana flow was the same. However, the output was different. While his Lightning was a bit more stable, his Air was not. It was all over the place, but one thing Kise was glad for, Air was similar to him.

Being that he's a copy cat, he adapts well to things around him and being in basketball, he's used to moving freely and without restrictions. Air Magic was similar to that. Lightning was more "rigid" in the sense that its form was always in a bolt-like shape.

Kise also practiced Kaito's Earth Magic and was amazed by what he could do. While Kaito could use regular Earth Magic like everyone else, his White Earth was amazing. With a single touch, the ground (or anything related) would turn white and he was free to create what he wanted.

On his third day after being discharged, Seirin Club (well, those who were free) came to practice their element combinations, preparing themselves to use it in actual battle. Fighting Touou made them realize that they were still a bit slow to put these into action and wanted to change that.

And during this time, neither Ryouma nor Ryouji got to spend any time with their little brother. Ryouma wanted to teach him how to wield his Lightning, but the King was already doing that, Ryouji wanted to teach him how to use the Spear, but once again, the King was already doing it.

"Man, it's so unfair." Ryouji mumbled indignantly. "I wanted to teach him about magic today. Papa is such a hog." the Second Prince pouted.

"Quit bitching," Ryouma said with a sigh. Both he and Ryouji were walking lazily down the hallway, with nothing better to do. Kise had been discharged couple days ago, and since the school was still in field trip period, they nor Kise had school today. Add to that, both Ryouji and Ryouma were in their final years of Kōtōgakkō and Daigaku which meant their turn won't be coming up just yet.

The two Princes trotted back to their rooms, but upon passing Ryouta's former room, they decided to detour and hope that he may be home. While they didn't know what time it would be in Japan, they knew that whenever it was daytime for them, in Japan it was late evening and by extent, night time.

"I wonder how he's doing with the connection plan?" Ryouji mumbled to himself. Ryouma had strode over to the two magic circles on the floor and ceiling and said,

"Hey, remember when you said to try out these two magic circles?"

"Yeah," Ryouji nodded. "Don't tell me you want to do that now?"

"Do you have anything better to do?" the older blond said, standing akimbo. Ryouji frowned. "Good, now get your ass over here."

As though being able to read each other's minds, Ryouji walked over to the magic circle on the floor, while Ryouma hopped onto a magic stepping stone to the one on the ceiling. Feeding the two circles with Mana, the two boys saw the kanji and symbols lit up with a bright light. Curiosity got the better of them, and they continued to supply the circles. However, a sudden blast of Mana sent them stumbling backwards, Ryouma falling off his stepping stone in the process.

What remained, left the Princes shocked.

The magic circles connected a pillar light, its colour being so bright that it seemed to be white but the boys could discern faint traces of yellow. Ryouma and Ryouji exchanged glances as they both wanted to enter the pillar but didn't know how long it will stay open for.

"Ryouma-nii, you go in." Ryouji said. "You're the eldest here."

"Son of a bitch." Ryouma snarled. "We're both going."

"No way! What if it closes!? Or start showing signs of closing!? Someone needs to continuously feed it Mana for it to stay open right?!" The Second Prince screeched. Ryouma gave him a look and used his magic to push the boy in the pillar.

"Hurry and get back!" he shouted.

…

When Ryouji got pushed by his older brother, the next thing he knew, he crashed into something solid. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was in a room with bookshelves but he didn't have time to look around.

"Ji-nii! I need your help!" Ryouta pleaded ―or rather, screeched in a pleading voice.

"Huh?" he asked. He hadn't yet registered what was happening.

"I don't have the time!" Ryouta shouted and took up Hakase. He saw that Ryouji still hadn't recovered properly. "Mahiro needs a regulator!"

"What?! He's got Mana in his system?!"

"Yes!"

Without a word more, Ryouji re-entered through the pillar with Ryouta following with Hakase in his arms. Getting back to the Kingdom, Ryouji immediately called the King and briefly explained the situation while Ryouma went and got a futon for Hakase as they couldn't carry him out of the room. The guards and Palace staff knew that Hakase hadn't come today (nor has he been ever since this predicament occurred), so it would be highly suspicious.

Letting out a sigh, Ryouji finally got off the phone, and looked to Ryouta, who seemed like he was about to fall apart anytime soon. Worry was etched onto his pretty face, tears streaming down his cheeks as he gripped Hakase's hand. Never before has Ryouma nor Ryouji seen their brother like this, and wondered what kind of influence Hakase had on him.

"Don't worry Otouto, Papa is going to teleport Ryouta here." Ryouji tried to soothe. "Everything will be alright then."

Ryouta frowned. "How can _he_ be of use?"

"He got a new regulator. One like a tattoo, so he doesn't need to use the other one anymore." Ryouma answered with a sigh.

Just then, the door flew open and both the King and Kise entered. Seeing his best friend in the same state that he had been in, Kise materialized his regulator from the spatial ring and placed it on Hakase's neck.

Hakase seemed to get back to normal, and everyone sighed a relief. King Ryouhei embraced his son in a bone-crushing hug, tears falling down his cheeks.

"It's good to see you again." he murmured.

"Daddy! You're stifling me!" Ryouta screeched while worming his way out of his grip. "You don't need to hug me that ―"

But the former Prince couldn't finish his sentence as something crashed into his left cheek.

"You bastard!" Kise roared with anger. He grabbed Ryouta in his shirt and pulled him close to his face. "You ruined my life!"

"I never did!" Ryouta barked back and shoved Kise away. "I wasn't the one who hauled your ass here!"

"But you're the one who left in the first place! If you hadn't, then I wouldn't have ended up here!"

Before things escalated into a fight, the King stepped in to quell the arguing boys. He knew how awful Ryouta could get when arguing, but he didn't know how much hatred Kise had for the other boy. To some extent, Ryouta was the reason for Kise being here, but he wasn't the only one to blame.

"Boys, be quiet." King Ryouhei said. "Your voices are too loud. How are you able to screech so loudly anyway?"

The two boys descended into angry grumbles, sending death glares at each other. King Ryouhei sighed heavily, as dealing with two angry boys is not his cup of tea.

"No one's life was ruined by anyone." the King started up again, his voice stern. "Quit your bitching and get along!"

"Hai." both Kise and Ryouta whimpered.

"So, Ryouta, tell me, what happened?" King Ryouhei asked, looking over at Hakase. He was slightly shocked that he hadn't even stirred given that the two Ryouta were shouting so loudly. "How did this pillar appear and why is Mahiro-kun _here_?"

"I fed the circles Mana. Then it exploded and Mana seeped through like a thick mist. It had spread to my bedroom where Mahiro was and he got infected." Ryouta said. "I didn't mean for it to happen. I didn't even know that something like that would have happened."

"Oh!" Ryouma said in realization. "Ryouji and I did the same thing!"

"Then it's your fault! Because you did it the same time as me, you put Mahiro in danger!" Ryouta shouted. "How the fuck am I going to explain this to his parents!? Huh?!"

"Shut up! How we were supposed to know that you were doing that, huh?!" Ryouma countered. "We're not fucking psychics!"

The King dragged a hand over his face, still he couldn't help but chuckle. Before Ryouta's attack, this was a usual occurrence between his three boys. They used to argue and fight a lot, destroying wherever they fought. But ever since Kise arrived, their arguments decreased significantly and the only time they fight is when Kise is teaching either of them Martial Arts.

"Well it should be obvious if you told me to try it out that _I would fucking try it out_!" Ryouta screeched. "Don't you think!?"

"You want to die, don't you?!" Ryouma snarled, his Lightning surging wildly around him, materializing his Staff ―"Kreuz" as well.

"Not if I kill you first!" Ryouta grinned as he materialized his "Kaizer".

" _Boys!_ " King Ryouhei said sternly. "If neither of you want to die, sit your fucking asses down!"

"But ―!"

" _Don't_ _try to argue with me_ _!_ "

The boys cowered in fear and looked away. Kise could only stare at their interactions. It was then that he realized he was treated differently by Ryouma and Ryouji in comparison to his counterpart. He didn't know if it was because he wasn't their real little brother, or was it because he couldn't defend himself in earlier days.

"Anyway, Ryouma, Ryouji, you go find your mother and Ayane." King Ryouhei said, "I'll go for Mashiro."

"Hai!" they chirped and dashed out of the room, leaving the two Ryouta alone. However, before he left, the King warned the two boys to not kill each other. Knowing what the King was like, they wouldn't dare go against his wishes. Ryouta had nothing against Kise, but the other blond seemed to hate his guts out.

"So...how are you?" Ryouta started, breaking the awkward silence.

"Sore." Kise replied. "You haven't ruined my reputation in Japan, have you?"

"Uh, no, not really." Kise narrowed his eyes at him, refusing to believe that statement. "Well, I got a suspension once." Ryouta finally confessed.

"What?!" Kise screeched. "What did you do to get that?!"

"I was attacked by a random student. So I defended myself." Ryouta sighed. "Sadly, he ended up in the hospital in a coma. Don't ask me if he's awake yet. I don't know nor do I care."

Kise sighed. At least Japan is still intact. "What about basketball?"

"It's fun!" he chirped. "I can understand why you love it so much! I just love the thrill and adrenaline that courses through my veins whenever I play a match." he cooed.

"I know right?!" Kise agreed. "The feel of the leather ball on my finger tips, the looks of absolute shock whenever I defeat my opponents…!"

"Kyaa!" the two ended squealing in delight. Upon realizing, they stopped and turned their faces away from each other. Kise looked at the pillar in the room and was tempted to enter through it. But, he didn't want to leave Hakase. It been ages since he's last seen the boy, and was dying to have a conversation.

"So, I heard you wanted to marry Tetsuya." Ryouta started up again.

Kise folded his arms. "So what of it?"

Ryouta scoffed. "Frankly, I don't care what you want to do." he said, "But couldn't we make a deal?"

Kise raised his eyebrows. This Prince seemed to be up to something. "And if I don't agree?"

"Then, I'll close the portal and you'll never see Mahiro or your Senpai again."

"Are you threatening me?"

Ryouta laughed. "I don't threaten. I _promise._ " he added, "I have my psychotic moments too, you know? Don't push me."

"Right..." Kise nodded with an eye roll. "What is this _deal_?"

"That pillar is something I'm working on as a doorway to permanently connect Japan and here. Since I'm doing this for your sake, how about you stay here and be the Third Prince, I stay in Japan and be you."

Kise folded his arms. "And what do I get from this?" In his head, he could hear Kaito snickering.

"Well, you'll get to come to Japan anytime you want. You'll get to see Mahiro and anyone else you want. And you help me with basketball." Ryouta grinned.

"Fine. But it's not like I could even return to Japan and stay there. I now live for four hundred years and can use magic with super strength and speed."

"Plus, you want to marry Tetsuya. Obviously, her father and brothers aren't going to let you leave and not come back." Ryouta added for extra effect.

Kise froze. "Brothers?"

"Yeah, she has two barbaric older brothers. They're both in the Blue Elites' Navy Division." Ryouta shrugged.

Shocked, Kise asked, "Kurokocchi is an only child in Japan. So how…?"

Ryouta sighed at his stupidity. "Ningen live for four hundred years. Obviously, there will be people who exist here that don't on Earth and vice-versa." Catching the look on Kise's face, Ryouta continued explaining, "The longer people live is the more likely they'll have more children. So that's why in this world Tetsuya has brothers while in Japan she ―he does not."

Kise said, "Just when I thought things couldn't get any scarier. First the time difference is gigantic, now this."

Ryouta shrugged, "That's how it is." his mood then changed, "Why do you add -cchi to people's names? It's disgusting. I found it hard to interact with Shintarou the other day."

"You met Midorimacchi?"

Ryouta cringed. "Yes, I did. And stop calling him that. It's disgusting."

Kise roared with laughter. Looking at the Prince's expression was priceless, but now he had a feeling of what he looked like when he made certain faces. Suddenly, they heard a groan,

"Where am I?" Hakase asked he propped himself up onto his elbows. With brightened eyes, the two Ryouta chirped in joy:

"Mahiro!"

"Mahirocchi!"

The dark-haired teen cringed slightly upon hearing the deafening screeches. But, they were all too familiar. Looking in the direction, he saw his best friend duplicated.

"Ryou?" he asked. He didn't know which was which, as they were both hovering over his face.

"That's me!" Kise perked. "I'm so glad that you're safe!"

"Move!" Ryouta shouted as he pushed Kise away. "Mahiro, how are you feeling? Are you alright? Do you feel any aches and pains anywhere?"

"I am a bit hot." Hakase responded. "Where am I?"

"You're in my old room." Ryouta answered.

"Oi! Let me talk to him! He's my best friend!" Kise screeched.

"Get the fuck away from him!" Ryouta roared. "He's mine!"

"I have rights to him as his best friend! We have thirteen years of history!"

"You shit! History means nothing! He's my housewife!"

"You're the shit here! How can you say something like that?!"

"Ryouta!" Hakase shouted. Immediately the two boys stopped. "You're both important to me, so can you stop the arguing now?"

"Fine," they grumbled.

"Do you have any water? I'm roasting."

" _He has a fever, Ryouta. A high one at that."_ Kaito whispered to Kise. But, before Kise could even react, Kaito took over his body and placed a hand on Hakase's forehead. He materialized a small clump of dirt from his spatial ring. Manipulating it carefully, it spread across the boy's forehead and then its colour changed from brown to white.

Ryouta was confused at this sudden action, but more so at Kise's red eyes. He knew the boy's eyes were brown like his, as they were not too long ago. But all of a sudden, they changed colour. Focusing his attention on what was happening before him, he saw that the clump started to glow with a faint light. Looking at Hakase's face, he was slowly calming down. Ryouta exhaled a sigh of relief, fretting that he may lose Hakase to whatever this is. Although Kise was alive and well, and survived his ordeal, Ryouta couldn't help worrying.

"He'll be fine, you can relax." Kaito said. "But why did you bring him here?"

"Excuse me?" Ryouta asked. "I needed a regulator for him." he then asked, "And why are you inside Ryouta? Made a contract or something?" Seeing Kaito use the "white earth", the Prince immediately knew who it was in Kise's body.

"Couldn't you have come over here, get it and leave?" Kaito continued, ignoring the Prince's question. "Mana wasn't going to kill him since Earth doesn't have a constant and permanent source like Sekai does. Mahiro was just going to go through the changes and be alright." he deadpanned. "But no, you chose to bring him here."

"Shut up! I panicked!" Ryouta snapped.

Kaito shrugged. "Whatever, I'm going back because Ryouta is throwing a fit."

Within an instant, Kise's eyes changed back to its original colour, Ryouta only stared at him.

"I hate it when that happens." he mumbled.

"What? A sudden takeover that you didn't see coming?" Ryouta asked.

Kise nodded, but then he looked at the other boy with surprise, "How do you know this?"

"I visited a soldiers' barracks some while back. Some of them had this problem with their contracts as well." he shrugged. "Seirei don't ask permission when they're going to takeover, you know? You should remember this."

Kise let out a groan and cursed. He realized how unlucky he was to be possessed while he was unconscious and dying. Everyone else had come to an agreement with their Seirei first.

"How unfair."

Meanwhile, Kaito laughed at Kise wholeheartedly.

…

Mashiro, Ayane and the Queen had arrived one by one and the situation explained. Both Mashiro and Ayane analyzed Hakase's condition and bore the good news.

"He's experiencing the changes faster than Earth's Ryouta did." Mashiro said. "According to what our Ryouta said, due to the sudden violent blast of Mana that attacked his body, his changes are occurring quicker, in opposed to when Earth's Ryouta was constantly having a steady flow enter his body from the atmosphere. But, he'll be fine."

"Thank God." the two Ryouta said. However, without hitch, Ryouta asked Mashiro:

"Do you have any idea of how I can use this connect the two worlds together? Permanently."

Mashiro looked at the magic circles intensely, "I'm not sure. I'd have to do some research." he then continued, "I'll have to do some experimenting as well. For now, get Mahiro back to Japan before the gateway closes."

"Right."

Ryouta took up Hakase bridal style and headed through the pillar once again. Kise was itching to go, to at least see his own parents for the last time, but Mashiro advised against it. Neither knew when the portal will close, or if the same method could be used again if that happened.

Both sad and angry, Kise stormed off slamming the door behind him and going into his room.

"Is he entering his rebellious phase?" Mashiro asked.

"No," King Ryouhei said, looking back at the pillar. _He's sad that he can't see his family._

…

 _[Somewhere in Kaijou]_

Sitting at a round table were five men, one of them being Aida Kagetora, General of the Army and First Division Leader. He was a tall man with short brown hair and brown eyes, dressed in what seemed to be casual wear. As a matte of fact, all the men present wore such clothing.

Beside Kagetora on his left was Kasamatsu Mitsurou, General of the Air Force and Leader of the First Air Force Division. Like Kagetora, he was also tall, and had short spiky black hair and sharp steel-blue eyes with rather thick eyebrows. He looked like an older version of the Kasamatsu Yukio on Earth.

Next was Takeuchi Genta, General of the Navy and Leader of the First Navy Division. He was a slightly plump man, but, not as fat as his earthly counterpart. Beside him was Kuroko Hikaru, Chief of Police, and lastly was Momoi Satsuya, Prime Minister of the Touou Kingdom.

"So, the gang's all here." Kagetora started, "What's this important message that you have for us? And the King?" He waved an envelope around. He had been the one who Satsuya's servant had seen and as such, he had gotten the letter.

"The Third Prince is in danger." Satsuya started, however, the others snorted and stared blankly as if saying "tell me something I don't know". "A group of seven, six children and one teacher was sent here in order to capture him. I don't know the details of their plan or when they plan to strike."

The Generals' eyebrows rose, and their interest piqued, "Continue,"

"I really don't know much, since King Daisuke knows how much of a pacifist I am. I was against this from the beginning, so I wouldn't know how they'll strike." Satsuya said. "But what I do know is that there is someone within the Palace that leaks information to this group, and there are some government Ministers that are in on this plan as well."

"What?!" the men roared in shock.

"There's a conspirator _within_ the Palace?" Mitsurou said, unable to believe.

"And couple Government Ministers?" Genta added, "What...why?"

But Hikaru and Kagetora kept silent. But it was something bothersome. It is a known fact that Touou had always coveted Kaijou's resources, but to think that Ministers were in on this too? If that was the case, what were they aiming for? To end the Monarchy? That was the only reason he could think of. But then again, the people would not want that.

Despite the Royal Family's unbecoming behaviour sometimes, they were loved by the people due to their fairness and reasonable legislations. So why would anyone want to destroy that? That'll just break out in a civil war.

"So you're saying that Touou has more than one conspirator." Kagetora asked.

Satsuya nodded. "Their main man is "Konan" but it's an alias, and his team are four Ministers of government but I can't tell you who they are." he then added, "But I do know that "Konan" is a tall blond haired male with red eyes."

Hikaru nearly fell out of his chair. There're only two blond haired red eyed males in the family ―Kouen and Kousuke. This made his search all the more easier, but, he thought, what would make Touou's Prime Minister come here to tell them all this? He knew that Satsuya wasn't lying, as before he arrived, they had installed lie detectors within the room. The moment Satsuya lied, they would have been notified.

"How are you sure that this "Konan" isn't using a disguise?" Hikaru then asked. "It could be that someone wants to create a rift between the King and his brother, so they'll disguise themselves as one of Prime Minister Kouhei's sons."

Satsuya paused. "I know it isn't a disguise because in case of anything, either side has insurance. "Konan" knows exactly what the agents of Touou look like, and vice-versa."

"Wow, to think that the leader of this conspiracy is a member of the Royal Family." Kagetora said as he raked a hand through his hair. He then leaned forwards, "I don't mean to point fingers, but I do believe it's Kouen."

"Me too." Genta nodded. "I've interacted with Kousuke and he doesn't seem like the type to be capable of ordering around Ministers."

"But then again, it's usually who you least suspect." Mitsurou said.

Hikaru nodded. "Do you have any idea of their motives? I understand that Touou just wants Kaijou's territory or "White Canvas". But what about the Ministers and "Konan"? How do they benefit from all this?"

Satsuya shook his head. "I can't tell you as I myself have no idea."

"Why are you telling us this?" Kagetora asked again. "Why are you helping us? Isn't Touou your country? Shouldn't you be faithful to them?"

Satsuya sighed. "I do love my country, and I'll do anything to protect it. Seeing that my King is putting us all in danger with this plan, I have to stop it at all cost." he added, "Everyone knows that if the Third Prince is captured, it'll be an all-out war."

 _More like obliteration,_ the men thought in unison.

"Okay, let's say we believe you." Hikaru started while folding his arms. "Do you plan on becoming Kaijou's spy in Touou? Is that the reason you've travelled all the way out here to tell us this information?"

Satsuya nodded. "It's the only way I believe I can save my country."

"Fine. However, you told us that King Daisuke knows you're a pacifist, so how will you get information regarding anything war-related?" Mitsurou asked, the gaze from his steel-blue eyes were intense.

"I'm only a pacifist when I need to be. Something like this can be solved with negotiation, so kidnapping the Prince and starting a war is unnecessary." Satsuya said. "I can give you information on Touou's military, and the development of some creatures similar to Bakemono."

"Hold on. That very same creature that attacked Prince Ryouta in his bedroom?" Genta asked. "That _thing_ was created in Touou?"

Satsuya nodded. However, the auras that seeped out of these men made it feel like he was being choked. "Touou has been researching and developing some creatures, using the Bakemono as its nucleus. They take living animals, clone them numerous times and with the modified pieces from the dead Bakemono, they create a new creature."

"What the fuck?" Kagetora spat. "They're creating monsters! We already have Bakemono stressing us out!"

"Well, they did unleash some last week." Satsuya said, tapping his finger on the table. "I think the destination was the Stone Plains and the surrounding areas."

Mitsurou, Hikaru and Kagetora twitched with rage. Their children had been on a field trip that time and at that very same place. While Yukio wasn't in that batch of students, Mitsurou was still pissed because she could have been and he regarded Tetsuya and Riko as his own as well.

"You don't say?" they snarled.

"Anything else?" Genta asked quickly so as take their minds off that subject.

"Konan and his team are planning another attack. King Daisuke wants Ryouta within two weeks time, or else he'll do things his way. And God knows what that'll entail."

"Those monsters. He'll probably set them on us in waves that we can't handle." Mitsurou hissed. "That twisted fucker."

"That means, Satsuya," Hikaru said, "You better do a damn good job and get us every bit of information."

"If you don't want your country to be blown off the map." Mitsurou added.

Satsuya laughed. He knew it was all within possibilities, given the King and Prime Minister's psychopathic tendencies. "I'll try my best." he said.

"That means we have a deal?" Hikaru said, stretching his hand out.

"Of course." Satsuya did likewise.

…

It has been an hour and a half since Satsuya left and Kaijou's Self Defence Force officials were at a loss. Especially Hikaru.

"I don't know how I'm going to tell Ryouhei this." Kagetora sighed, rubbing his temples. "I fear he'll lose it and behead both Kouen and Kousuke and then purge the entire government."

"You can't tell Kouhei either because he'll do the same thing." Mitsurou said, in a likewise manner to Kagetora. "He's as psychotic as his little brother."

"That's what you're worrying about?" Hikaru scoffed. "Tetsuya has a date with Ryouta tomorrow to the aquarium. To think my baby girl will be all alone with a Kise tomorrow scares me."

The other three men laughed, Kagetora clutching his abdomen and tears welling in his eyes. "You're going to be Prince Ryouta's father-in-law! You can't escape that! Since Ryouta has his eyes set on her, I'm sure that Ryouhei will abuse his power and _make_ her his wife whether she wants to or not! And _you_ won't be able to stop the madman!"

"Thank God Yukio didn't catch either of their eyes." Mitsurou sighed in relief.

"What are you talking about?" Kagetora chuckled. "If Yukio's element wasn't Fire, Ryouji would have tried to snatch her from Yoshitaka-kun."

Mitsurou sighed in relief yet again. "Thank God she got my element."

Genta sweat-dropped at the men at the table. "Have you forgotten that the there is a plan to kidnap the Third Prince which may start a war between us and Touou?" he said, "Not to mention how are we going to break this news to the King without him going ballistic?"

"Right..." Kagetora said as he calmed down. "We can always laugh at Hikaru's demise later on."

Hikaru was not amused.

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review! And don't worry, Kise will reunite with his family and Senpai soon!**_


	21. A date with Tetsuya

_**A/N: Thank you all for your faves, reviews and follows!**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

* * *

Chapter 21

 _A date with Tetsuya_

…

Kise couldn't sleep at all.

He sat up in his bed and looked at the clock mounted on the wall. It wasn't even midnight yet. Earlier today, the other Ryouta had crossed over with Hakase, but when he wanted to go to Earth for a brief moment to meet his parents, he was denied. It's been so long since he'd last seen his family and friends, and it ached his heart to see that they were so close, but yet...

"I hate the time difference of this place..." Kise groaned out as he lied back down in his bed. He still found it hard to adjust given that there were less hours in a day than Earth but far more minutes in an hour than Earth. Doing his calculations, the time now would be close to mid-morning in Japan.

"I wonder what Mom and Papacchi are doing? I wonder how that manga ended..." Kise silently prayed that his counterpart kept his deal because if he didn't, by the hook or the crook, he'll find a way to haul Ryouta's ass back here.

Just then, he heard a knock on his window. Getting up, he headed over and drew back the curtain only stare on into Ryouji's grinning face.

"Ryouta~" the older blond sang as he entered Kise's room.

"Hi. Why aren't you sleeping?" Kise asked.

"Why aren't you?" Ryouji countered with a smirk. He then added, "You know, the pillar is still there. According to Hakase-san, it should be open for another day before it closes." the Second Prince beamed. "Now let's go!"

Kise's eyes widened, "Are you serious?!"

"I would be pretty pissed and sad too if I wanted to see my parents and was told I couldn't. Just get your ass back here for Tetsuya. If you ever stand her up, Kuroko-san and her brothers, not to mention her mother will skin you alive."

"Okay!" Kise chirped. He then followed Ryouji out the window and the boy carried him on his stepping stone to the Prince's former room. Sliding the windows open, the two boys made it safely, the pillar connecting the two worlds was still bright as ever.

"Now go." Ryouji said with an encouraging push.

"Of course!" Kise bolted through the pillar while Ryouji lazily sat back in a chair, awaiting his return.

 _xxxx_

The sun sneaked in through the window, illuminating the dark room. As it hit Hakase's face, his eyes fluttered open and he sat up straight. He winced a little, given that his body felt extremely sore and exhausted. His eyes then caught Ryouta, sitting on a chair at his bedside. The blond seemed to be fast asleep, but his position seemed to be extremely uncomfortable.

"Ryouta. Ryouta." Hakase said as he shook him awake. "Oi." Still, there was no response from the blond. He didn't even stir. Twitching with impatience, Hakase slapped Ryouta across his cheek, sending the blond prince flying across the room.

"What?!" Ryouta snapped up and rubbed his cheek. "Who ―" he broke off as he saw Hakase staring at his trembling hand in shock.

"What..." Hakase said in complete surprise. "...how did I…?"

"Mahiro!" Ryouta screeched as he lunged for the boy, totally forgetting about the slap. Tears were streaming down his cheeks and they weren't at all comical. "I thought I lost you!" he sobbed as he embraced him tightly. "I was so worried." his voice softened with care.

Hakase couldn't believe his ears nor his eyes. The violent, scary and tempestuous Prince was actually crying over the fact that he thought that Hakase wasn't going to be alright.

 _I guess he does have a heart, after all._ Hakase thought with a chuckle. "I'm fine, Your Highness."

"But you scared me!" Ryouta shouted, still bawling his eyes out. "I thought...I thought..."

"Alright, alright." Hakase said as he rolled his eyes. "I get it." But then his voice took on a serious tone. "Now what have you done to me, you bastard?"

"I didn't do anything." Ryouta quipped. "I didn't know that Mana would have seeped out. Plus, it's Ryou-nii and Ji-nii's fault! They were the ones who troubled the magic circles back home!"

"Either way, the Kise family is at fault." Hakase deadpanned. "What am I going to tell my parents!? How am I going to get married in the future!? How am I going to live?!"

Ryouta grandly flipped his hair and smirked, "I've got all those instances covered."

"How so?" the raven-haired boy said between gritted teeth.

"Well, I planned to get Ryouta over here to prove to your parents that another world exists. In terms of marriage, you can always marry me. In terms of living, all you have to do is carry on like normal."

Hakase twitched with rage. "Are you hearing yourself?! Me? Marry you? You want to die, don't you?!"

Ryouta pouted and looked like a kicked puppy. "I'm hurt. Aren't you my housewife?"

But before Hakase could say anything more to the Prince, they heard a stumbling and clattering coming from the adjoining room. Then, the door opened, revealing Kise, fully clothed in his pyjamas. Brown eyes met with blue and in that instance, Kise flew to Hakase, embracing him in a hug.

"Mahirocchi!" he squealed. "I have so many things to tell you!"

"I have so many things to tell _you_!" Hakase chuckled. "The Prince and Kaijou are quite the entertaining bunch, you know?"

Kise let out a gasp. "Do tell!" he grinned. But then he released the raven-haired boy, and his face dropped. "It'll have to wait because I have a date with Tetsuya tomorrow and it's past my bedtime. I just came to see Mom and Papacchi."

"Okay, they're downstairs." Ryouta said, interrupting them. "Now shoo."

"Mahirocchi is _my_ best friend. Don't tell me to shoo." Kise snapped.

"But he's _my_ housewife. Now, move." Ryouta's eyes were burning with jealousy.

"Oi, oi," Hakase said, "I didn't agree to any of this. Don't start a fight now."

Kise hummed while he skipped to the door. "Mahirocchi~I never knew you got the quite the jealous boyfriend here~" he said in a sing-song voice, he only gave the boy a mischievous look before heading downstairs. Sadly, he didn't see the look of rage and annoyance on Hakase's face. However, Kise was so eager to see them that he basically ran down the staircase and into the living room.

"Mom! Papacchi!" he screeched and lunged for the two. The three crashed onto the floor with a loud thud, tears of joy running down his cheeks.

What?! Ryou!?" both parents shouted. "What are you doing?!"

"It's me Papacchi!" Kise said as he caught them both in a bone crushing embrace. "I've missed you so much."

"You...you're...killing…me...us..." Ryouhei managed to wheeze out.

Coming back to his senses, Kise gasped, "I'm sorry! I still have a hard time adjusting to my own strength!"

"But really, are you…Ryou? As in... _my_ ball of sunshine?" Ritsuko asked. "Is it really you?"

"Yup!" Kise perked.

So, without hitch, Kise rattled off everything that he's been through so far in Kaijou. He spoke about how he's now able to use magic and has "super strength and speed". He spoke about the advanced technology there and how mind-blowing it is, he talked about Ryouji and Ryouma and how similar yet different they were from his sisters. But, he never forgot to tell his father about his date with Tetsuya. It was on this subject that he spent the most time, as he belted out his heart-felt pain during the prior days when he tried to talk to her but Taiga and Shigehiro stopped him, and how she shattered his heart when she said that she didn't like him _that_ way…

Kise left no stone unturned.

After he was done, his jaws hurt as he'd never spoken that much before in his life. But when he told Ryouhei and Ritsuko that he'd stay in Sekai but visit often, they both threw a fit.

"Why?" Ryouhei asked after he had cooled down. "This is your home. Your entire life is here! Are you an idiot?!"

Kise had turned away his head at this point, looking a bit heartbroken. "I know. If the Prince wasn't such an asshole, then I would have come back." he said. "But, I knew that if I had chosen to come back, he'd fight me, and I don't want to die." he then added, "Plus, Kurokocchi is a female in that world! I couldn't let her get away from me!"

Ritsuko laughed. "The things men do for love. Your father was the same."

"Ritsu! At least you weren't in a different world!" Ryouhei countered. He turned to Ryouta. "Are you sure about this? That place doesn't even have basketball, or anime or anything for that matter! All they do is get up and fight Bakemono all day long! Are you sure you want to live in a world like that?"

"As long as the bastard keeps his promise, then I'll be good." Kise then grinned. "But as the Third Prince, the King said I have some leeway, so I've got many ideas in mind."

"A promise is comfort to a fool!" Ryouhei continued, grabbing him in his shoulders. "Don't you know that?"

"Honey, calm down." Ritsuko started. "I think the Prince will keep it. The only thing I'm worried about is his temper." she sighed.

"Hmm..." Kise hummed. "Everyone did say that he takes after his father, so that's to be expected." At this, Ritsuko and Kise glanced in Ryouhei's direction, the blond man simply huffed and folded his arms.

"I do not have a temper." he mumbled in denial.

"Maybe not now, but back in the day, you did." Ritsuko laughed.

Not wanting to dwell on that topic, Kise then asked about how they've been holding up with the Prince now under their care. Of course, Ryouhei and Ritsuko both agreed that it was stressful, especially the first week of his arrival. Finding food that his taste buds could tolerate was not an easy task. But there were times when it was cute. They told Kise about the Prince and Kaijou's adventures at Fuji Q highland amusement park, they told him about how Kasamatsu is the only one (apart from Hakase) who can calm down the raging Prince and how the interaction between Kaijou and the blond boy was extremely amusing. But seeing how the clock was ticking, Kise decided to cut their meeting short and head back for his date.

"She's so _cute_ , Papacchi!" Kise shrieked. He even took out his phone, and showed his parents Tetsuya. Of course, his mother broke out in girlish shrieks upon seeing the light-blue haired female, Ryouhei commenting that falling for cute girls runs deep in the family.

"So when can we meet her?" Ritsuko asked as they walked back to Kise's former room.

"Hmm...as soon as Prince stabilizes the gateway." he responded. "That way, I won't have to worry about her being trapped over here or something. Her dad will kill me."

"What're you talking about?" Ryouta piped up as they entered the room. Hakase rose an eyebrow as well.

"He's going on a date. And the girl is extremely cute!" Ritsuko grinned.

"Oh. He's getting married to her, you know?" Ryouta said with a smirk, sending the two parents and Hakase into a frenzy. He knew that the "girl" is none other than Tetsuya.

"EEHH?!"

Kise tried his best to shush the Prince but failed miserably.

"But, their wedding date is like sixty-four years from now, though. Unless you two go over to the Kingdom, you won't live to see it." the Prince deadpanned. "Let alone your grandchildren."

"EEHH?!" Came the next screech, although Kise was involved in this one as well.

"Sixty-four years!? _What?!"_ the other blond boy shouted. "You're lying to me aren't you!?"

"No. Although you're legally an adult at one hundred and twenty one, you can get married or whatever at age eighty. Treat it as though it's equivalent to turning sixteen over here." Ryouta said.

Kise collapsed onto his butt, tears threatening to fall. "That means, Mom, Papacchi, Onee-chan, Reiko-nee, Kousuke, Koumei, Senpai and the team won't get to see my wedding? Or anything?"

Ryouta walked over to him and rubbed his back. "Of course they can you idiot." he grinned. "Either you haul them over to the Kingdom, or you shove liquid Mana down their throats over here. I can help you if you want. I've gotten attached to them too."

"And what about their families? It's pretty awful when your friends and everyone are ageing and dying and you're still young and fresh."

"That's fucking bullshit." the Prince cursed. "Humans like to live long, so if they get the opportunity I'm sure they'll take it." he added, "But I'm sure I can figure out a way to change the entire country if you keep bitching. That way, everyone will live until four hundred."

"For someone so smart, I'm surprised that you actually suggested something so stupid." Kise sighed. "You _can't_ turn the entire country into _Ningen_! Do you have any idea of the pressure Japan may face?! _"_ He screeched. "Or the ostracism they may encounter because the rest of the world thinks they're monsters or freaks!?"

Ryouta sighed. "Fine. We'll transport the entire country into Sekai then. We have a lot of ocean space. That way, no one can bitch about anything. Or better yet, I can destroy any country that dares to treat Japan as such. I'll probably have to take over the entire world."

Hakase karate chopped the boy on his head. "As of now, I'm cutting down your manga and anime intake! These ideas are stemming from them!"

"No!" Ryouta whined. "Don't do this to me, Mahiro~! _They are my life!_ "

Kise dragged a hand over his face. "Mom, Papacchi, I'm going back. Prince's idiocy will drive me up the wall."

Prince Ryouta twitched with rage. For some reason, being called stupid by his other self was extremely insulting.

Ritsuko caught Kise and pulled him into an embrace, followed by Ryouhei. "Please, come back. Everyday. We miss you, you know?" Ritsuko was almost tearing up. "Make sure you're eating properly, all your vitamins and vegetables, get your right amount of calcium so your bones don't break. Make sure you're using the right moisturizer and shampoo for your hair; take care of your skin too, don't let it turn out flaky and old." she added, "Why can't you just return home and forget that place?" Here, she broke out in tears, Kise almost tearing up as well.

"Ryou..." Ryouhei started, but he stopped abruptly. He didn't know what to say his son, except for him to stay here. He didn't want him to leave, without his protection in a world where one slip means he'll never see Kise again. "...just listen to your mother."

"Un!" the blond beamed and was released from their grip. "I'll see you soon!" he then looked at the Prince. "Take care of everyone and get this thing up and running soon!"

Ryouta laughed. "Naturally. I'm going to be the best and greatest Japanese that ever walked this planet. You can count on me."

Kise scoffed. "Make sure. Because I'll have your head."

With one last wave, Kise stepped through the portal.

 _xxxx_

In Tetsuya's room, Shinya, Shigehiro and Mitsuhiro were busy rummaging through the girl's closet, looking for something for her to wear. Although Tetsuya had picked out something, they complained that it was too _casual,_ too _simple._ Meanwhile, Yukio and Shun were organizing her make-up set, Taiga was busy doing Tetsuya's nails.

"You can wear this!" Mitsuhiro shrieked. She held up a white off-the-shoulder mini-dress with a thin, silky green bow at the left of the waist.

"Oh no. If she wears that, she'll come back pregnant." Shigehiro retorted. "Can't trust a Kise, remember?"

"Come on guys, _this_ one isn't so bad. No need to be _so_ cautious." Shun chuckled. But she walked towards the trio, "How about you let Yukio and I choose her outfit?"

"That's right," Yukio piped up, making her way to the closet after Shun. "Single ladies like you lot won't know what to pick out. You can do her make-up." she grinned.

Shinya, Mitsuhiro and Shigehiro turned red with embarrassment. Taiga only ignored that statement. "So what if we're single!?" they screeched indignantly.

"By the way, what are you doing here, Yukio-senpai?" Taiga asked, painting Tetsuya's nails. "Didn't you have a date with Yoshitaka-senpai today?"

Yukio sighed. "We did, but Teppei is finally being discharged today, so Riko wanted company." She then mumbled, "And I was looking forward to today too."

The girls present let out joyous screams at Yukio's comment and expressions. The dark-haired girl turned her face away to hide the blush but the others caught it anyway.

"I'm pretty sure he'll make it up to you." Shigehiro teased. "I mean, it's Yoshitaka-senpai after all."

"Ano...it's nice that you're all teasing Yukio-senpai, but my date will be here in a couple of minutes and you're all still choosing my outfit." Tetsuya sighed. "I would have finished already."

"Let's get cracking, Shun!" Yukio screeched.

"Roger!"

The two girls picked and refused, mixed and matched until they finally decided on an outfit. With a grin, they exited the closet and neatly placed Tetsuya's clothes on her bed.

"You'll kill him with this for sure." Shinya said with a smile. "I think instead of enjoying the date, he'll be struggling with all his willpower to keep his hands off you."

"Shinya-senpai!" Tetsuya shouted with a blush. "This is the first date! No such thing will happen!"

"Whatever you say, Blue. Whatever you say." She smirked.

"Now that that's done, get dressed so that we can do your hair and make-up!" Mitsuhiro urged. "Time is of the essence!"

Tetsuya groaned.

…

Kise arrived at Tetsuya's house an entire thirty minutes before the actual time he was supposed to. He exited from the car and walked to up to the two storey house, pressing the doorbell. He prayed that Hikaru was home and not her brothers, because thinking back on what Ryouta told him, Tetsuya's brothers are supposed to be barbaric. He can't handle that.

The front door swung open and who stood there left Kise frozen. No matter how many times he's seen her, he just couldn't help but cringe. It wasn't that Hayakawa Mitsuhiro was ugly (in fact, she was beautiful), but for the life of him, Kise is constantly thinking about _his_ Senpai from _Earth._ It's as the saying goes, they were world's apart, she didn't even have Hayakawa's trademark eyebrows or incomprehensible speech.

"Ryouta! You're here early!" she said, looking a bit distressed. She then looked away from Kise inside the house as if someone else was there. "Is Tetsuya ready yet?!"

Kise held his ears. At least she was as loud as Hayakawa.

"In a minute!" Kise heard another shout. It was another female, but he doesn't remember who the voice belonged to. Mitsuhiro then invited him in and he sat in the white sofa in the living room. A couple minutes later (girls and their bad timing), Tetsuya arrived with Taiga and Shigehiro behind her.

She wore a red off-the-shoulder blouse tucked into blue skinny jeans which hugged her skin dearly. On her feet were red Converse, matching her blouse and jewellery. Her long blue hair was caught up in a bun, with two side bangs framing her small face. Seeing her, Kise gaped.

 _Stay strong Ryouta! Stay strong!_ He thought to prevent himself from grabbing her into an embrace. Kise hugged himself, trying his best to control himself. If it wasn't for the existence of magic, Kise would have already swept her off her feet and smother her to death. The girls present could see right through him, and smirked at each other.

"Hello, Ryouta-kun." Tetsuya greeted in her usual manner, Kise seeing no difference from Kurokocchi back on Earth.

"He-he-hello," he managed to voice out.

Shigehiro snickered. "Cat's got your tongue, right?"

"No! She's just really beautiful!" Kise defended, although it didn't really make a difference.

Taiga then ushered the two out, whispering death threats into Kise's ears that should anything happen to Tetsuya, he'll experience serious bodily damage. Saluting his understanding, he followed Tetsuya to the parked car. While he was being threatened, she had already walked on ahead.

…

The drive to the Aquarium was strangely quiet.

Kise, for once, didn't know what to say to Tetsuya and the light-blue haired girl didn't mind the silence either. She was contently reading a novel she pulled from her spatial ring. He let out a groan as for someone of his chatty nature, he couldn't find something to say to her. It's probably because Jin was the driver and not someone who knew about his situation.

About an hour and a half later, they arrived at the Aquarium, Kise and Tetsuya getting out quickly. The blond male took in sight the building structure ―a four storey of steel reinforced concrete. A giant marble statue of a marine creature (Kise didn't know what it was, but thought it was a whale) greeted them at the front entrance. Excited, Kise pulled out a phone and took a selfie with Tetsuya after which he asked a random security guard to take their picture.

After passing the sculpture, they entered through the "Umi" Gate, Kise in awe at the view of the ocean before them. He took what seemed to be countless pictures, selfies with Tetsuya included. The small girl didn't mind, in fact, she was actually taking in the sight that was a "happy Ryouta". Although Kise wasn't the Ryouta she knew, it was nice seeing him smiling genuinely. The Third Prince hardly ever did that due to varying circumstances. But there was one thing she noticed as they passed by the restaurant. There were far too many security officers and police in the area. She knew they were here for Kise.

After all, the Prince was attacked in his bedroom, and this blond was almost killed on his field trip. The Self-Defence Force seems to be not taking any risks these days. Reaching the escalator nestled in the corner of the area, they went downwards, where the tanks were. Pulling out a map, Kise navigated their way to the main attraction ―the "Beautiful Sea".

Passing through the reception, Kise and Tetsuya received something that resembled brooch in the shape of an aquatic creature. Pinning it on their clothes they then passed through the sliding double doors where they stumbled upon a large area with numerous people. Some sat by the tank and watched the marine animals swim around, others sat a further distance chatting and eating or lazing around.

However, Kise and Tetsuya (along with others) were led to the opposite direction by the guide and entered through another door. What happened next left Kise gaping. It looked ― _felt_ like they were _inside_ the tank. While Kise could feel the slipperiness of the water, he wasn't getting wet. Just then, a creature swam across their path, brushing against the blond. He jumped in fright and let out a shriek, Tetsuya beside him was cracking up with laughter.

"I take it aquariums in your world aren't like this."

"Not even close." Kise mumbled. "All we do is stand at tanks and look at the fishes through the acrylic glass."

Tetsuya frowned, "How boring."

"Just to be clear, this isn't a simulation or anything, right?"

Tetsuya laughed at the blond's expression. "No it's not." she chuckled. "See these brooches? They actually prevent us from getting wet, and attacked."

"But what if they fail?"

"You'll be automatically teleported out."

"But what if that doesn't work?"

"You drown."

Kise gasped but quickly, Tetsuya reassured him. "I was joking!" she waved her hand in dismissal. "These brooches can't fail because they are constantly maintained."

"Oh." Kise nodded. But getting back to the task at hand, Kise drank in the sight all around him, and to say that he was in awe was an understatement. The sight was absolutely breathtaking. He was surrounded by cobalt blue water and with every step he took, the white sand crunched under his feet. Dazzling arrays of "fishes" swam above him, their scales varying different colours ―red, green, white, yellow…

Every now and then, Kise would let out shrieks and screams whenever the creatures passed by too close. Tetsuya cracked with laughter each time, Kise's facial expressions were hilariously priceless.

The aquatic creatures were somewhat different from that of Earth ―there was one that seemed like a manta ray but its body was covered with black and white stripes, there was another creature that seemed...odd. It reminded Kise of what a tiger would be like if it had been a fish.

After leaving the "Beautiful Sea", the couple then headed to "Coral Forest", another tank with only corals and couple fishes that live there. This tank was a reef and for as far as the eye could see, coral reefs stretched upwards like trees, the "fishes" present darted to and fro busily. Once again, Kise took pictures here, squealing with excitement.

As the day continued on, the duo visited the exhibition tanks ―all seventy-seven of them, Kise taking so many pictures that at one point, Takeo became irritated. They visited the different "Deep Sea" tanks, where as its name suggests was the recreation of the deep sea. It was like another world for Kise, this one seeming even more mysterious than dry land.

In the midst of their exploration, they stopped by the café to grab a snack before moving off again. They visited the "touch pool" where due to the structure of the tank, they were able to freely touch the marine creatures without having to go inside the tank like previous. Next they headed outdoors to a gigantic pool for the "Iruka Show" which was reminiscent of Dolphin Show back on Earth.

Of course, thanks to the brooches, they didn't wet but due to Kise's excitement, he nearly feel over into the pool. At this, a lot of officers dashed to his aid, frightening the living daylights out of not only Kise, but everyone present. It was almost as though they had arrived out of nowhere.

But all through this, Kise never released Tetsuya's hand as he didn't want to lose her. Her presence was just as weak as Kuroko's on Earth and the blond felt that he'd break out in hysterics should she disappear from his sight.

Just before they left, Kise and Tetsuya went to the restaurant for something to eat. There, Kise chatted with Tetsuya, the small light-blue haired girl enjoying every moment of it. Kise was quite the talker and quite comical when needed to be. But before they knew it, it was time to leave, as Jin had arrived and was waiting by the front entrance.

...

When Kise reached back home, he was tired. He dropped himself onto his bed, heaving out a sigh. He never knew visiting the Aquarium would have been so exhausting, but definitely, he made a mental note to bring Hakase there as well. It was just too awesome! He then turned onto his back when he heard a ruckus coming from outside. Scurrying to his window, he saw Ryouji with another guy, practising their water magic. He was tall with shoulder length brown hair with the front fringe pinned backwards and emerald green eyes.

Kise has encountered the guy couple times around school, and apparently he and Ryouta have this awful Senpai-Kouhai relationship that always starts with them arguing. If he remembers correctly, the Senpai's name was Kakihara Seung Jae. Of course, with a Christian name like that, no one calls him "Seung Jae". It's either "Jae" or "Sung" or just plain, normal "Kakihara".

In the entire school Seung Jae was the best Water Mage, being able to whip out dangerous grand magic without the aid of magic circles. He was a cool Senpai in Kise's eyes, and wondered why he and Ryouta were on bad terms. But then again, it's the Third Prince. Most of the school and he were on bad terms ―either some girls hated him for not responding to their love confessions or love letters, some guys hated him for capturing all the girls' hearts, others hated him for being in first place in _all_ his classes and the list goes on.

Getting bored, Kise returned to his bed in hopes of sleeping but with the constant racket of his brother and schoolmate, he failed miserably.

"Might as well I join them." he sighed as he climbed through his window. "Ryouji! I'm coming!" he screamed as he floated down towards them with his Wind Magic.

Seung Jae smirked. "The more the merrier."

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review! The Aquarium used is modelled off a real life one in Japan called "Okinawa Churaumi".  
**_


	22. Connection

_**A/N:**_ "Mashiro" ―referring to Hakase Mashiro from Sekai.

"Hakase-san" ―referring to Hakase Mashiro from Earth.

* * *

Chapter 22

 _Connection  
_

…

 _[Meanwhile in Japan]..._

Ryouta dribbled the ball as he dashed towards the net, Kasamatsu barking at him as always. Kobori blocked his path, but the blond could only smirk. With a quick pivot, Ryouta weaved around the centre, and jumped to make a shot. However, Hayakawa jumped for the block as well, and in that instant, the blond prince bounce-passed the ball to Moriyama who had run up.

The shooting guard was the one who made the shot.

"Ha! Nice try Mitsuhiro-senpai!" Ryouta chuckled. "But you were no match for _moi_ ~!" he sang.

Hayakawa stood there confused. "What's mwah?"

The Prince rolled his eyes with a chuckle. "It means "me"."

"Oh."

"That wasn't Japanese nor English, was it?" Kobori asked.

"Nope."

They returned to their positions to continue their game. With Inter-High officially starting, this was a regular in Kaijou's gym, Takeuchi becoming more and more appalled with Ryouta each day. He was faster, stronger, and while it seemed that his basketball skills had dulled somewhat, that didn't stop the blond from creating terror on the court. There were times, though, when Takeuchi felt as though the Kise he knew wasn't the one playing on the court these days, but for a fact, the chubby coach knows that the blond small forward doesn't have a twin.

Add to that, this blond's attitude and temper were far different from what he's been accustomed to. Still, Takeuchi prayed that his temper doesn't get the better of him in an actual match, especially when they face a team with one of the Miracles. It would be a disaster if he manages to get kicked off the court.

But, deciding not to dwell on that at the moment, Takeuchi watched his boys practice with Hakase standing beside him, making records of their progress.

After practice was over, the boys cleaned up the gym and left for the locker rooms. As such, the locker room was quite boisterous, Ryouta being the centre of it. He asked many questions (which the regulars deemed to be stupid, but they understood since he was from a different world). He even teased Kasamatsu and Moriyama, since back in his kingdom, they were a couple. In addition, he offered to do something about Hayakawa's eyebrows, as Mitsuhiro's back home were _always_ neatly done.

One their way home, after everyone had parted ways, Hakase and Ryouta walked towards their homes in the peaceful neighbourhood. But, the closer he got to his house, Hakase was uneasy.

"So when are we actually going to tell my parents? I can't continue like this, you know?" Hakase started. It has been a week since Kise came over to see his parents, and Hakase has to be constantly cautious of his body. He couldn't hold anything too tight because he might break it or dent it (depending if the object is glass, metal or plastic), he can't run too fast because if people saw they'll suspect him to be an android or something that's not human. The only thing he could use normally was his brain, although with Mana now in his system, he's gotten profoundly smarter. Which, he is most definitely glad for.

"When Ryouta comes back over. I spoke to Mashiro-san, and he said that when I come home I should call."

"Okay." the raven-haired boy nodded, realizing that the blond prince meant the Mashiro from Sekai. He then asked, "Why did he tell you that?"

"Because..." he purposely trailed off as he threw a hand over his shoulder. "...he's found a way to permanently open the gateway."

"No..." Hakase gasped in disbelief.

"Yes..." Ryouta mocked playfully. "He's a Royal Scientist. His brain is top-notch, you know? I can't wait to show you around! We'll have so much fun!"

"Why do I get the feeling that this is just the beginning of something big?" he groaned as he clutched his stomach. "My gut feeling is telling me that."

"Your gut is telling you it's hungry, that's what."

"Shut up."

"So what's for dinner?"

"Whatever's in your fridge and cabinet." he drawled.

Entering the house, Ryouta dropped himself into the couch and heaved a sigh. It was nearing the start of Inter-High, and Takeuchi was preparing them for the tournament. Ryouta realized that the chubby man wasn't a bad coach, if anything, he was similar to the Takeuchi of his Kingdom. But what he didn't understand was the talk about this "Generation of Miracles" and how he's supposedly a part of it. Still, the irritating part is that there's a chance that they'll face their "Ace" ―Aomine Daiki. Ryouta didn't care about much, but hearing that name ignited a murderous fire within him. He never wanted to tell Hakase of this, since he knew that when it comes onto the Miracles, he's the only one Kaijou can depend on to handle them. Should Hakase know of his feelings towards the tanned boy, he'll find a way to have him sit out the entire match.

Although this Aomine Daiki is powerless and did nothing to him, he still hated him for the fact that the tanned boy is the counterpart of the Prince of Touou whom he _absolutely_ _hates._ Ryouta felt that if he couldn't catch Prince Daiki, then Aomine would have to suffice.

"What's with the sour look on your face?" Hakase asked, startling him out of his thoughts.

"Sour? What?"

The raven-haired boy plopped himself onto the couch beside him. "You seem like you're thinking about something that pisses you off."

"Nah, that's not it." He lied smoothly.

"Then what is it?"

"I was just thinking on Inter-High, that's all."

"I see." Hakase got up and fanned him off as he headed towards the kitchen. Neither of Kise's parents were home as per usual, and Hakase's parents didn't mind that their son was at his friend's house. They lived four houses away anyway.

"Mahiro~!" Ryouta called out playfully as he made his way up the stairs. "I'm going to take a shower, wanna come?" he winked at him.

Hakase twitched with annoyance. "I'm going to slit your throat."

"So mean!" He whined, but as soon as he saw Hakase ran from around the wall with a kitchen knife in hand, he took no chances and dashed up the stairs. "I'll go! I'll go!" he screamed.

When he reached into the bathroom and headed over into the shower, Ryouta thought back on the week he had. So far, things have been progressing smoothly and no one was questioning his identity anymore. Sure, there were a few teachers who were still finding it hard to believe that "Kise-kun" had improved or in the case of Civics ―spiralling down into an abyss. No matter how many times Hakase spoke to him, he just couldn't stand the class.

But basketball practice has been fine, Kasamatsu and the team really putting out their best efforts into making him a semblance of _their_ ace. It was then that his mind crossed the idea of how the other Ryouta would look like while playing basketball. He's got the skills, the wits, everything needed and now with the addition of the strength and speed of a Ningen…

Ryouta burst out laughing.

No doubt, everyone watching would be thinking that he's on drugs or is a robot. Jokes aside, he began to reminisce his time in Japan. From the very first day that he landed here, up till now. It has been a rocky two months; getting a suspension on his first day of school still left a sour taste in his mouth.

"Hmm, I wonder if that student is fine by now?" he shrugged as he shampooed his hair. Still, he realized that he's learnt many things while here, and how different this world is from his. Although the same people here are the same in Sekai (well, for the most part), their behaviours are somewhat different due to influences like gender and family background.

Kasamatsu, Hayakawa and Nakamura are in that lot, and he hadn't interacted with those from Seirin to know exactly how they were.

Washing out his hair, his mind trailed on the non-existent Bakemono of this world. He's always wondered why his world had Bakemono even before he came to Earth and it's still puzzling him to this day. Is it because his world is far more advanced? Or it because of the infinite source of Mana? Or is it even because of the existence of Seirei and dragons and all those creatures the people of Earth believe to be imaginary?

But, one thing he knew was that this world was pretty fun. And he liked it. There were manga, anime, video and online games, sports… the list seems endless. He's even wrote down all the things that he'd like to do but haven't yet shown Hakase. After all, the list was still incomplete.

Taking himself out of his musings, he focused on scrubbing himself clean. Although he didn't sweat (Human training is far easier than Ningen training), he was still felt dirty. After forty minutes, he emerged from the bathroom, feeling fresh. He put on a simple t-shirt and shorts before heading into the adjoining room.

He then headed to the left wall, and poured mana into the magic circle there. He didn't have to wait long as he saw his mother's face appear. It seemed as though she had been waiting. With a perk, Ryouta greeted,

"Mom!"

"Hey, baby, are you alright?" she asked with a tender smile.

"Un!" he nodded like the child he was. He then saw Queen Ritsuko turn to the side and beckoned to someone to join her. It was none other than Hakase Mashiro, the father to his close friend of that world.

"Hello, Your Highness." the older man greeted. He then held up a sheet of paper with intricate magic circle designs. "I'll get straight into the meat of the matter. This is what you have to do for the gateway to become permanent."

Ryouta grinned. "That was fast Mashiro-san!"

Mashiro scoffed. "Who do you take me for?"

Without sparing a second, Ryouta immediately went to work, following Mashiro's directions perfectly.

...

Hakase busied himself in the kitchen like always, moving a little bit slower. While Ryouta is still in the process of teaching him how to control his body, a week is still short for him to become master at it. But the dark haired boy couldn't believe that within a blink, his normal life changed forever, and it all stemmed from an impulsive prince of another world.

While Ryouta is feisty, scary, violent and tempestuous, he can be amiable, fun and dare he say it... _adorable_. Hakase couldn't believe it, but the Prince had actually managed to worm his way into his heart, even though he wished he could murder the blond in his sleep sometimes. But as he continued to busy himself, the house suddenly shook.

 _Boom!_

Dropping the knife and flying up the stairs, Hakase pushed open the door of Ryouta's bedroom and dashed towards the adjoining room. There, like a week prior, was the pillar of light, connected by the two magic circles. However, this time, there were smaller magic circles which intercepted the larger ones, almost looking like a Venn Diagram. Ryouta stood before it and when he saw Hakase enter the room, he smirked at the boy.

"With this, we can travel back and forth anytime we want."

"Ryou too?" He found himself asking as if on automatic, forgetting that the neighbours might have an earthquake scare because of this.

Ryouta let out a sigh and rolled his eyes. "Yes, even your best friend can visit any time."

Hakase was close to punching that attitude out of the Prince when he heard a voice, one all too familiar. A tall man, who looked quite young and fresh emerged from the pillar donning a long white trench coat over a black shirt and black pants. His black hair was extremely curly, his blue eyes were bright with excitement and wonder.

"So this is Japan, huh?" he said as he walked towards the window. Ryouta knew this man all too well, but Hakase could only stand there and gape. The man was none other than Hakase Mashiro, his father from the other world.

"Mashiro-san!" Ryouta perked. "What are you doing over here?!"

"Oi, I bust my ass to figure this out, so I have all right to come here. I've always wanted to see what this other world is like after all."

Ryouta laughed. "It's everything Sekai is not."

"I see." Mashiro nodded. His eyes then landed on Hakase and a grin appeared on his face. "Ah, my boy...you're still the same as back home." he said as he ruffled Hakase's curly hair.

"Uh, yes...Sir?" Hakase wasn't sure on how to address this man.

"Call me Dad! I doubt that there's a difference between me and the Mashiro of this world, right?" He grinned. "Unless I'm a female here."

"Mashiro-san, could you come with me somewhere?" Ryouta then asked. "It's an emergency."

Mashiro and Hakase's eyebrows rose. "Where? And what's the emergency?"

"Let's go. I'll explain on the way."

Before Hakase could ask where he was off to (because the Prince was still getting acclimated to Japan), he heard an all familiar screech coming from the gateway. A ball of sunshine bolted through and tackled him to the floor.

"Mahirocchi!"

"Ryou?!" Hakase hissed, the air was pushed out of his lungs when he fell to the floor.

"Yes! And this time, I can stay and chat!"

"That's great..." the raven-haired boy panted. Kise got up and aided him to his feet. It was then that Hakase realized what the blond was dressed in. A red blazer over a white button down shirt with a red tie nestled loosely around his neck. His jeans were black and his Converse sneakers matched his blazer.

"What are you wearing?" Hakase couldn't help but ask. "Did you go somewhere?"

"Oh this? It's my school uniform." Kise chirped.

Hakase's jaws dropped. "School allows you to wear jeans and Converse?!"

Kise laughed. "Yup! Trust me, I dress decent compared to what I've seen." his eyes then narrowed into seriousness. "Mahirocchi, we have _a lot_ to catch up on."

"Then I suggest you start."

…

Meanwhile the two best friends were catching up, Ryouta walked with Mashiro to Hakase's house. He didn't want to hesitate in telling Hakase's parents and brother what happened to their son, because he knows that prolonging things unnecessarily will end up in disaster. During their short walk, the blond Prince explained the situation to the scientist and thankfully, he understood what needs to be done. And with him being Hakase's father's doppelgänger, things should be more believable.

And so, they reached the doorstep and pressed the bell.

Ryouta waited with impatience, nervous as he has no idea how Hakase's parents will react. Knowing that there was another world, parallel to Earth is one thing, but finding out that their son has been genetically altered to the point that he's able to use magic, use more of his brain capacity, has "super strength" and "super speed"...he's pretty worried that they'll disown the poor boy.

Ryouta was taken out of his thoughts when the door swung open.

"Kise-kun?" Hakase-san started, upon seeing the blond boy. "What brings you ―" he broke off and let out a (manly) shriek upon seeing Sekai's Mashiro smiling back at him from behind the Prince.

"I have something to discuss with you." Ryouta said calmly.

But in his shock and stupor, Hakase-san couldn't say a word. He gawked at his counterpart, still frozen at the doorway.

"Hakase-san?" Ryouta said, waving a hand in front of him. This seemed to snap his back to reality.

"Who are you?" Hakase-san gasped out. "Where did you come from?"

"Calm down, Hakase-san, hear us out." Ryouta pleaded. Earth's Mashiro sighed and closed the door behind him. The three males were now outside on the porch, Ryouta looking bright as always, Mashiro looking impassive and Hakase-san was close to having a heart attack. Was this man his long lost twin? He was sure that was not the case.

"Start explaining." he ordered, trying to keep his composure.

"There is another dimension, world, or whatever you want to call it, that's parallel to Earth. It's like a mirror of Earth only with couple differences." Ryouta started. He spilled everything to the man, with Mashiro clearing up whatever needed. Although the Prince kept it concise and devoid of any loopholes, by the time he was done, Hakase-san was at a loss for words. Ryouta even showed him a display of his Lightning Magic, and the man almost had a heart attack for real.

But, he believed the blond, and was somewhat sad that the "Kise-kun" he's known all these years isn't the one before him. _And_ he was pretty confused as to what to do with his son, who had _accidentally_ become a Ningen. When Ryouta explained what happened, Hakase-san realized that no one is at fault, but this was still…

"So...what am I going to do about my boy? If he's going to live until four hundred..." he trailed off, racking his brain for an answer.

"Hakase-san, there are two options." Ryouta said. "First, you do nothing. Carry on like normal and when you die, you just die and Mahiro continues to live on."

The Scientist shivered at the bluntness of his words.

"Or," Ryouta continued, "You become Ningen too. You can always live in my Kingdom when your time on Earth would have expired."

"But won't his family think something strange when they see two "Hakase Mashiro" walking around?"

This time, Mashiro spoke up. "Sekai knows about the existence of other worlds." he said. "While we didn't know of Earth until this happened to His Highness, the possibility of other worlds being in existence is high and known to everyone."

"I...see..." the human male could only utter out. He then turned away his face. "This is all...so sudden."

"I know and I'm sorry." Ryouta said as he bowed his head in apology. "Maybe I should have told you the day I arrived here, but it didn't cross my mind that I needed to tell you guys as well."

"Damn right. And your family didn't even think of it either." Hakase-san mumbled. "What's Ryouhei thinking?"

Ryouta paused. Hearing that made a thought come to him. He remembered that in this world, he's supposed to have two elder sisters...and he hasn't met them yet. As a matter of fact, he knows for a fact that no one other than his parents know of the situation. Which means, should any family gathering come up, either Ryouhei has to tell them what's been happening, or he hauls Kise's ass and have him substitute.

Ryouta groaned aloud and dragged a hand over his face.

"What's wrong?" Mashiro asked.

"No―nothing." Ryouta lied. This is a talk between him and Ryouhei anyway. Then, a clap took him out of his thoughts.

"Alright, you need to tell this to my wife and older son as well." Hakase-san said. "The only reason I didn't let you in is to avoid to screaming and the freaking out."

"Right..." Mashiro said with a pale face. "You better go in and prep them or something. I don't think I can deal with Rie-chan's screams right now."

Hakase-san chuckled. "You know your wife well."

Mashiro grinned. "Naturally."

...

When Ryouta and Mashiro returned home, the two were exhausted.

Explaining everything to Hakase's parents and older brother had sucked them dry and the blond hadn't felt like this when he had to explain his world to his parents' counterparts. But then again, he remembered that both Ryouhei and Ritsuko had seen _with their own eyes_ when their son was dragged through the magic circle, and when he fell out.

However, when he entered the house, he noticed that the dark-haired boy was chatting happily with Kise in the living room. With a snort, he trotted over to them, prompting them to pause their conversation.

"Did I interrupt?" the Prince asked.

Kise looked at him, "What do you think?" he spat.

"Good." Ryouta smirked.

Sensing the hostility brewing between the two, Hakase quickly said, "If you fight, I'm not going to be cooking." Immediately, the Prince calmed down and shrunk back. But the moment he did that, he perked up again, this time looking at Kise.

"Hey, let's make a deal."

Kise frowned. "You bastard. You'll be asking for my soul next, won't you?"

"No..." Ryouta answered with disgust. "Why the hell would I want _that?"_

"Whatever, I'm not making any more deals with you. One is enough ―I'm already taking your space, what more could you possibly want from me?"

Ryouta sighed. He knew he could be a bit too much sometimes, but jeez, his counterpart is making him seem like the bad guy. "I'll cut to the chase before you start to bitch." he said with an eye roll. "Inter-High is coming up. And the deal is, since the gateway is completed, we'll both play in the Tournament. We'll both play for one half of the game."

Kise's eyes brightened, Hakase's jaws dropped.

Ryouta continued, "Since we return to our locker rooms for ten minutes or whatever, we'll have to switch in the bathroom. Make sure you're there."

"Of course! As long as it isn't past my bedtime or I'm not in school by then." Kise chirped and lunged for the Prince. "You really do have a heart!"

"If I didn't, would I be alive right now?" Ryouta retorted with sarcasm.

"Yes. Doctors could implant a fake heart for you."

"Tsch,"

Kise looked smug as he knew that the Prince couldn't counter that one. Hakase then returned to the kitchen as he had paused on his cooking when he felt the house shake earlier on. Mashiro returned to Sekai, leaving the Prince and Kise to chat ―or rather fight and argue. At one point, it had gotten so bad that Hakase kicked them out with a basketball, and told them to scram to a basketball court to vent their anger.

Which ended up in a disaster.

With the two at each other's throats, they (unwillingly) destroyed the court and ball, but thanks to Kaito's Earth Magic, Kise was able to repair to ground but not the hoop and the stands.

"Now let's go before someone comes." Kise said as he grabbed the Prince's wrists and bolted for the exit.

"For once I agree with you." Ryouta said, following Kise closely back home.

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review!**_


	23. Code Black

_**A/N: Thank you all for your faves, reviews and follows!**_

 _ **An important thing to note, Prince Ryouta did not go mad in this chapter, he's still perfectly sane.**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

* * *

Chapter 23

 _Code Black_

…

Finally, it was time for the Inter-High tournament to begin, and Kaijou, along with every participating school were gearing up. Ryouta and Hakase along with the regulars schemed up strategies against their upcoming opponents, Kise pitched in every now and then when he could as long as he wasn't at school and it wasn't past his bedtime. Kise even chatted with his teammates like old times as he had missed them, and even showed them videos of their counterparts from Sekai.

Of course, Kasamatsu and Moriyama were the most embarrassed, being that they knew that their other selves were an item. It was distressing, as Kasamatsu couldn't see how his other self fell for Moriyama. The shooting guard wasn't a bad guy, but...he just _couldn't_ see it happening.

On the day of the tournament, Kaijou's first opponent was a school from Kyoto ―East Maizuru High. And as per the deal, Kise played in this match, but he and the Prince played a round of janken to decide who will play in which quarter. Sadly, Kise lost and had to play in the first half.

That said, within the first twenty minutes of the game, East Maizuru High was destroyed. Kise let loose on the court, his thirst for playing the sport apparent in his actions. Of course, he gauged his speed and strength so as to not raise any suspicions. And after the break when Ryouta came in, they were further demolished. Many patrons watching thought it to be strange, as Maizuru was one of the best in Kyoto, coming in second behind Rakuzan High. And while Kaijou was a powerhouse, they shouldn't have been able to crush Maizuru as they did.

As for the regulars, they didn't have an ounce of guilt in them.

Takeuchi was shocked at the display of strength of his blond ace, but he could tell that there was a discrepancy between the two boys. In the first half, he noticed that Kise Ryouta behaved and played like the one he was used to. However, the Kise Ryouta of the second half behaved like the one he had been questioning ever since the incident in the gym that earned the blond a suspension.

One blatant difference, the Kise that played in the first half was right-handed, and placed all his weight on his ride side, while the Kise that played in the second half was left-handed and placed all his weight on his left side. Add to that, he played with unpredictability.

The second was that the moves of the "first Kise" were amazing, refined and orthodox ―signs of a veteran player who knows what he's doing. The "Second"...most of his moves were raw and unpolished, and while he got the job done, he seemed like a promising amateur who recently took up the sport.

He then looked to Hakase, and thought of asking him about "Kise" but then again, it didn't make any sense. Hakase and Kise were close, the entire school knew that, so even if the blond was hiding something, the raven-haired boy wouldn't talk.

And so, throughout the rounds, Inter-High for Kaijou has been nothing but smooth sailing for the most part. The second match they played was against Azabu High, an offensive school with a balance of offense and defense. Yet again, Azabu didn't stand a chance against Kaijou.

The third match was against Yuumei, a school that specializes in defense. But with Kise and Ryouta's speed, they were often time left in their dust. At one point, Hakase felt pretty bad for the teams, but Kise reassured the manager that everyone will be alright at match end.

Their fourth and final match before quarter finals was against Amagiri High. They were like Kaijou ―good balance of offense and defense not solely focusing on one aspect. Once again, Kaijou proved to be more than what Amagiri can handle and as such were defeated.

The combination of Kise and Ryouta playing proved to be deadly, and the Blue Elites were glad that their ace was the one who got sent to Sekai. If it were another school (like any one with a Miracle) they knew they would have been screwed. But one thing they were glad for, although their opponents were crushed, Kise and Ryouta made it seem like they had a fighting chance. Teams didn't feel despaired so much that they gave up midway, instead, they grit their teeth and fought on.

In instances like these, Ryouta would pick up fouls for his behaviour, often time screaming and whining that defenders were too close and he's claustrophobic. Other times when the referee told him to be quiet, he'd cuss and swear and attempt to threaten the poor man but Kasamatsu would always kick senses into him.

Apart from that, everything progressed quite fine.

…

"Whoo!" Hayakawa shouted with glee. "To the Quarter finals we go!"

Hakase groaned. "That means, we'll be playing Touou. That's not good at all."

"What do you mean? As long as we continue to work together, there shouldn't be a problem right?" Ryouta said, taking off his shoes. "We'll beat Touou like we beat everyone else."

At the moment, Kaijou were in their locker rooms changing out of their sweaty jerseys. Their fourth match had ended not too long ago and now they were preparing to leave the venue.

"Brat, you can't take Touou lightly. Aomine is on that team." Kasamatsu said. "As a matter of fact, according to what Hakase told me, they have a scary manager that will leave us bare."

Hakase nodded in agreement.

"So what? Since we know that, can't we find a way to work around it? I can ask ―" he broke off as he remembered that there were others in the room that didn't know about his situation. "―my relative for some tips as well. He'll be willing to help."

Moriyama sighed. "That's not the point. Aomine is, uh, a _hard_ player to beat. He's pretty much unbeatable to the ordinary player like me."

"Oh." Ryouta looked uninterested. Hakase noticed his behaviour whenever Aomine's name came up and started to worry. He feared that Ryouta may lose his temper and try to kill Aomine on the court. That wouldn't be pleasant.

"Yeah."

"Well let's hurry." Ryouta then perked. "I'm hungry and Mahiro is the only one that I eat from."

Kasamatsu sighed. While he's tasted Hakase's cooking before, he didn't see the reason for the Prince to behave the way he does.

They quickly got dressed and headed out, Ryouta making a detour to the bathroom before. The blond walked briskly to his destination, pushed the door and entered. Inside was empty, and he was glad for that. He didn't really like interacting with people that much, since he didn't know what they would be like on Earth. The counterparts to most of his friends attend different schools and they weren't all that close. He couldn't risk anyone giving him strange looks.

In the midst of washing his hands, the door opened and in came Aomine.

"Yo." the tanned ace said as he threw a hand over Ryouta's shoulder. "Ready to get your ass kicked tomorrow?" he half-joked. While Aomine was confident that he'd win, he knew he shouldn't take Kise lightly.

Immediately, Ryouta violently shrugged off his hand. There was a voice inside his head telling him to murder the ace right then and there, but he fought to keep his urges under control. Ryouta knew he was being stupid, but he didn't care. He will always hate Aomine Daiki, no matter which world he may come from.

"Don't touch me." He hissed. _Snap the bastard's neck in two._ Ryouta inhaled and exhaled, trying to calm himself.

Aomine looked a bit shocked at his behaviour. "What's wrong with you?"

"Does it look like something's wrong with me?"

"Of course. You don't usually behave so...hostile." he then chuckled. "What? Are you tense about our match tomorrow? Or is it the fact that you know you'll lose tomorrow?"

Ryouta scoffed. "Me? Lose to _you_ of all people? Keep dreaming."

Aomine chuckled. "Confident, aren't we?" he then said with sarcasm, "Have you ever won against me?"

Ryouta couldn't say anything as he didn't know of Kise's track record with this guy. But seeing that Ryouta wasn't responding, Aomine took it as though the blond was actually admitting that and smirked.

Ryouta twitched. "Fuck off, bitch." he spat before shoving him aside and storming out of the bathroom, leaving a bewildered Aomine.

When he reunited with his team, they noticed that he took a longer time than usual.

"What took you so long?" Kobori asked. "I hope you didn't cause any trouble."

"I didn't, Kouji-senpai!" he whined. "I just ran into someone." he answered truthfully.

" _Who?!"_ The others screeched in alarm.

"No one special." he lied.

The group then moved off, heading off home.

...

Meanwhile, Aomine walked back to the locker room, still shocked about what he experienced not too long ago. As much as he and Kise (and by extension to rest of the Miracles) weren't on extremely friendly terms, he knew that Kise would _never_ behave like _that_.

It was almost as though he was conversing with someone different. It was almost as if the face was only Kise's but the person within wasn't. But, he knew it was the annoying blond as he had been watching their match earlier today. Although he didn't want to, because of course Kaijou would win against small fry like Amagiri but Satsuki decided to be annoying.

When he entered the locker room, without a missing a beat, Momoi asked in a rather worried voice,

"Dai-chan! Are you alright?"

"Ah, yeah." he said after a brief pause.

Momoi folded her arms and tapped her feet impatiently. She knew he was lying. Seeing that the pinkette wasn't budging, Aomine caved and grumbled out,

"I met Kise in the bathroom."

"And…?" she prompted him to continue.

"He seemed...different. Like another person." Momoi's face didn't look surprised. Aomine wondered about that but continued on, "He cursed. And called me a bitch."

She gasped at this. "Midorin and Tetsu-kun experienced the same thing!"

"Really?!"

"Midorin called me some time ago, asking me if I met Ki-chan. When I replied "No", he said that he'd change and seemed like someone totally different." She said, "I called Tetsu-kun and asked him and he said that the Ki-chan he saw only had Ki-chan's face. The person couldn't have been the Ki-chan we know."

Imayoshi decided to intervene. "Aren't you overreacting? People change, you know?"

"But Ki-chan isn't the type to behave like Dai-chan!"

"Hey!" Aomine retorted.

"How can you be so sure, Momoi-san?" Imayoshi said with a serious tone. "While I have no business here, I think that Kise changed from the blond you know." he then turned to Aomine, "Didn't you always complain that he was annoying and irritating? Maybe he took it heart."

Aomine shrugged his shoulders and decided to leave it there. There was a part of him that was still uneasy, given the murderous look he saw in "Kise's" eyes. _Maybe he was upset that Tetsu lost horribly to me_...He managed to reason out. It was a known fact at how much Kise was attached to Kuroko from their Teiko days.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Aomine changed into his jersey and readied for the court.

…

Using Ryouta's teleportation circle, the boys from Kaijou returned to Ryouta's new house, Moriyama trying to persuade the Prince into putting a magic circle in his room as well for easier access. However, being his feisty self, Ryouta quipped that he wasn't their chauffeur.

"Goodness, we'll be facing Touou tomorrow." Nakamura exhaled a long sigh. "I'm already shivering and the day isn't even done yet."

"Don't worry, Shinya-senpai, we'll do well." Ryouta smiled, but beneath that smile was something dark.

"You aren't scheming something, are you?" Kasamatsu asked, narrowing his eyes at the blond.

Ryouta shrugged. "No. I admit, I hate the guy, I'll find another way to kill him after the match."

"You can't kill anyone!" the team screeched.

"I won't leave any evidence! One strike from my Lightning and it'll be over! I don't even need to be near him!"

Hakase grabbed him in his collar and snarled, "You will kill no one. You will play in the match to the best of your abilities and when we win, we'll head out to celebrate. Do I make myself clear?"

"But ―" the Prince started to whimper. But Hakase cut him off,

" _Do I make myself clear?"_

"I will kill no one and play in the match to the best of my abilities. And after we win, we'll head out to celebrate. You have made yourself clear, Mahiro."

"Good."

Kaijou could only sit and gape in shock. While they knew that Hakase could keep the Prince under control, seeing a demonstration such as this left them beyond stunned.

 _xxxx_

 _Meanwhile in Sekai…_

When Kise heard from Mashiro that he'd find out a way to connect the two worlds permanently. He was ecstatic, jumping and grinning all over the place. He missed Japan a lot, he missed his parents, he missed his friends and teammates, he missed _everything._ But now that the worlds were going to be connected, he could travel freely whenever he wanted and without bodyguards breathing down his neck. He even thought of how much fun he'll have playing basketball yet again.

To say Kise was surprised when he heard of the Prince's deal would be a total understatement. He never imagined the brat to have a heart and be so understanding, but lo and behold, it seemed that he was wrong about that aspect of the other blond.

But due to this, Kise's life has gotten quite busy these days.

He's been getting in the groove of things quite well. His schoolwork was improving and a relief was that in the Kingdom, they don't get homework so all he has to do is study to catch up to Ryouta's level. Which was stressful sometimes because Kise learnt that Ryouta was actually _smart._ He knew Ryouta was number one in his cohort but he recently found out that out of the entire Kōtōgakkō (which had five grade levels and thousands of students), Ryouta was ranked number three overall.

But that alone didn't stun Kise. It was the fact that both Ryouji and Ryouma were not only number one in their cohorts, Ryouji was the number one overall ranked in Kōtōgakkō and Ryouma was number one overall in Daigaku. Well, Kise surmised, they were fifth years and sons of the frightening King, so he shouldn't have been surprised.

On another note, Kise found that he could walk around the palace by himself (well, he can't go anywhere without his guards trailing behind him) and not get lost. His tutoring went well, the only problem he was worrying about was how he will act when he meets the counterparts of the Miracles.

Apparently, he and Prince Shintarou are supposed to be childhood friends being that their Kingdoms (and by extension, their fathers) were on friendly terms. Prince Atsushi and Seijuurou hadn't met the real Prince Ryouta before so Kise has no worries there. In terms of Prince Shougo, Ryouma told him that they were like two assholes in a pod (and coupled with Hanamiya Makoto they were a deadly trio) which made Kise frown. He and Haizaki weren't on good terms, _worse_ Hanamiya, but now he has to be smiling in their counterparts' face? Kise didn't think he could do it.

But he's realized that there was something between Ryouta and Prince Daiki of the Touou Kingdom. While it was clear that Touou and Kaijou are enemies (Kise couldn't think of a stronger word to use), there was some animosity in Ryouta towards Daiki. His tutor didn't tell him about it when he asked, giving Kise the response:

"It's best if you don't remember." the man said with concerned eyes. Because everyone in the Palace who didn't know about the situation thought he had severe amnesia.

That got Kise's eyebrows rising, since he had his run-in with the tanned Prince as well and wondered what Daiki could have done to Ryouta.

On another topic, Kise managed to get Tetsuya out on more dates. The light-blue haired girl was coming around to him, and the blond boy felt like tearing up with joy. Taiga and Shigehiro mumbled and grumbled often times being that the first time they met Kise, he had proposed to their best friend without a proper greeting. But the two girls accepted Tetsuya's decision.

He's gotten closer to his brothers as well, Ryouma constantly asking him about Earth, Ryouji pestering him for more Martial Arts moves. During this time, Kise was counting down the time when the gateway would be completed, so that he could just ship Ryouji off to the Dojo he's learnt from. King Ryouhei had been busy most of the time, so the blond from Earth hasn't seen him much, except at breakfast and dinner. The Queen was the same, only she was most of the time fighting Bakemono with her division or patrolling the coastlines.

However, at the moment, Kise was bored. He didn't play in the match today because he had club activities which he must admit, is turning out to be a blast. He wanted to sleep but he was too excited, since the next match was the quarter-finals and he had to face Aomine. A grin appeared on his face, as he knew full well that he could _finally_ kick Aomine's ass. And what was even more, he didn't feel an ounce of guilt since he would be playing against a complete Human and he was _partially_ Ningen now.

If that's what it will take to beat the tanned ace, then by all means, Kise doesn't care for shit.

Then again, his mind flashed on Ryouta. Will he be alright when he faces Aomine? If there is some underlying hatred, given the Prince's personality, won't he try to kill him or something?

Kise shook his head to rid the thoughts.

Ryouta is a smart boy, he wouldn't let emotions get the better of him. Besides, Aomine of Earth did nothing to him, so there's no way he could attack the ace. And so, Kise shut his eyes trying to catch as much sleep as he could before he had to get up again for the match.

 _xxxx_

Patrons poured in to the gymnasium, excited to see the match-up between two members of the famous Generation of Miracles. In this crowd were the Seirin team, who were coming from their training camp nearby. Kagami was eager to see how the two boys will play against each other, Kuroko was sort of uneasy. He hadn't forgotten about what happened in the Okonomiyaki restaurant, and thought that with that new attitude, comes a new type of play from the blond ace of Kaijou.

The team sat in the middle section, not too far from the court but not too near either.

"So who do you think will win Kuroko?" Kagami asked before the match started.

"Honestly, I have no idea." the light-blue haired teen replied with seriousness. "Aomine-kun was the one who inspired Kise-kun to play basketball. They used to play one-on-ones often in the past, but Kise-kun has never beaten him."

A deadly silence hung in the air around them. They knew Aomine was a monster, but for Kise to have never beaten him _once_ was saying a lot. As more spectators came in, Furihata heard a familiar voice coming from behind. He turned around and saw "Kise" sitting beside another blond who looked strikingly familiar to said blond. "Kise" and the blond young man were separated from them by two rows, which meant that they didn't see them.

"Uh, Kuroko," he started.

"Yes?"

"Are you sure Kise doesn't have a twin?"

Everyone turned around at that, Kuroko rose an eyebrow. "Why'd you ask that, Furihata-kun?"

The brunette leaned over more to Kawahara's side, giving those in front a view of "Kise" and the young man.

"Wha ―" but Kuroko was cut off when the gym roused up and both teams walked out. And of course, the blond ace stood out like a sore thumb which left Seirin with the question ―Who was it behind them?

…

"Oh man!" Hayakawa shouted in excitement. "I'm so excited, oh man!" he then went into his speed talking. "I'm arr filed up! Plactice is gonna pay off now! I wirr go furr powel, count on me!"

 _(I'm all fired up! Practice is gonna pay off. I will go full power count on me!)_

"Huh, what?" Kasamatsu asked. But as usual, no one understood a thing he said.

"Rike I said, I wirr go furr powel!" he ended up close to Kasamatsu's face so the captain punched him over.

 _(Like I said, I will go full power)_

"You're too close!" he shouted. "You're crowding me, you're talking too fast to make any sense and I don't have any idea of what you're saying, you idiot!"

"Solly, but I ―"

"Hey Moriyama, do something about this idiot!"

Moriyama was in the corner of the room, doing some stretches with his back turned to them. "Actually, Kasamatsu," the shooting guard started. "Third row on the west side way on the end…" he said as he dropped his hands to his sides. He then turned to face Kasamatsu. "Did you see them? They're here."

Kasamatsu's face hardened into seriousness, thinking that the shooting guard may be talking about another team.

"Who?" he asked.

"A super cute girl." He said with a smile. "I'm going to play for her today."

"Play for us, you moron!"

Hakase, who had been watching, shook his head; thinking that Kasamatsu should be used to Moriyama's antics by now. Just then, the door opened and Takeuchi entered. He was dressed in a suit, and casually had both his hands in his pockets. His face was well shaven as well.

"Hey, you guys ready to go?" he asked. "It's almost time to get out there." His face shone and then he said, "give it everything you have."

 _Why are you trying to compete with the handsome Touou coach old man?_ Kasamatsu thought. When the boys saw their coach, they snickered, trying their utmost best not to laugh out loud.

"Our game plan will be what we discussed. Stay focused." He looked in Ryouta's direction and felt a bit satisfied when he saw the blond sitting looking extremely concentrated. He didn't speak to anyone, he didn't even budge when the others were laughing.

The coach then saw Ryouta look at his wristwatch (which he deems extremely expensive) before heading out of the locker room, stating that he needed some air. It was true, ever since he found out that he'd have to face Aomine Daiki, there had been a feeling welling up inside him and it wasn't good.

This was the reason why he told Kise to play in the second half. He wanted this match to be over and done with. He hugged himself and wondered why did he even agreed to play in this match anyway? Ryouta knew that seeing Aomine would more than likely stir him up, but basketball was fun. And he was hooked on the sport. He wasn't going to let Aomine's existence hinder him from playing the sport.

Taking deep breaths, he managed to calm his raging spirit, before heading back to locker room.

"Are you ready Ryouta?" Hakase asked as he nudged him in the sides, playfully.

Ryouta grinned. "I can't wait."

"Good."

They then marched out onto the court, a confident aura oozing out of their bodies.

…

The Touou locker room was in a totally different mood than Kaijou. Aomine had yet to arrive, and even though Momoi tried calling his cell, it only rang.

"Well, Momoi did you get in touch with him?" Imayoshi asked.

"He won't answer." She replied.

Wakamatsu was fuming. It seemed as though he would've bust a blood vessel by now.

"I can't believe how relaxed Aomine is." Imayoshi sighed.

"We don't need that guy!" Wakamatsu said, rising to his feet. "He's been late to every game! Even when he shows up, he doesn't always play! I'm sure he'll be late again today!"

"We'll be in trouble if he doesn't show up today." Harasawa said coolly. "They're not so weak that we can beat them without him starting."

"Hey." The door opened, revealing Aomine, dripping with sweat. "Did you say something?"

"Looks like you've already warmed up." Harasawa said.

"I thought you guys might have some trouble without me today." He drawled.

"Don't make me worry every time!" Momoi said.

"We're going up against Kise. There's no way I'd be late. I've been looking forward to playing against him for a long time. It's worse now ever since I played Tetsu the other day." Momoi eyes widen when she saw his face. "He's one of the few guys I can crush as hard as I can."

…

Both teams were finished warming up, but the crowd and Seirin noticed that Aomine seemed to be avoiding "Kise". Said blond didn't mind what was happening, as for him, the further away Aomine was, the better. He then wondered if he'd be able to survive the entire half, but figured that he could always get Kise to come in if he couldn't.

He was taken out of his thoughts by the referee's whistle, urging them to line up. After greeting each other, they got into their positions preparing for the tip-off.

On the other hand, Kise noticed the distancing and silently prayed that Ryouta hadn't come in contact with Aomine prior to this and said something. He remembered the Okonomiyaki restaurant incident that Hakase told him about, and fretted on how Midorima was taking his "new personality".

Kise refocused back to the court to see that Kobori managed to get the ball to Kasamatsu who was facing off against Imayoshi. He bounced the ball three times and then chest passed it to Ryouta. The blond caught it with ease, but Aomine blocked his path. Ryouta then shifted to his right but instead, he broke pass Aomine on his left. However, the moment he did so, Aomine knocked the ball from behind, causing it to bounce away into Imayoshi's hands.

"You're just as weak as you've always been." Aomine said. "You thought you got pass me with that?"

Ryouta didn't say anything. He didn't want to start up anything and then before he realizes, he's snapping Aomine's neck.

Imayoshi bounced the ball until he reached Kaijou's net. He then passed the ball to Wakamatsu but Kobori blocked him from shooting.

 _Number eight…_ He thought, _this guy's better at defense than he looks. In that case…_ He then passed the ball to Sakurai who was waiting. Moriyama ran up to him to try and stop him, but as usual, the boy's release was quick.

 _What a quick release!_ Moriyama thought.

Touou then went to defend their net while Hayakawa retrieved the ball. The power forward then passed the ball to Kasamatsu while the others ran off to their markers. When they were all in position, Kasamatsu passed the ball back to Ryouta who immediately dashed off. When Aomine saw this, he had an inkling of what would happen if he didn't move.

The tanned ace made an attempt to steal the ball, but the moment he moved, Ryouta bounced the ball through his legs to where Kasamatsu was waiting. He then quickly chest passed it to Moriyama, who landed a three.

"Defense! Let's stop them!" Kasamatsu shouted.

"Yeah!" they chorused.

Ryouta made his way back as well, so far so good. Once more, the players got into position. By the free throw circle, Moriyama was blocking Sakurai and Kobori blocked Wakamatsu. Ryouta blocked Aomine who had the ball. The two were by the centre circle.

"You've started to think like Tetsu." Aomine said.

"So what?" Ryouta replied. He knew "Tetsu" was referring to Kuroko given that in his world, Taiga and Shigehiro referred to the light-blue haired girl as such.

"Did you have a change of heart after losing to him? You're putting me sleep."

Ryouta didn't answer because he had no idea what Aomine meant by that.

Aomine bounced the ball continuously, and then switched his hands. In that moment, he threw the ball seeming as though it was a pass, but he caught it back in time to pass Ryouta. When the blond shifted to his left to block Aomine, in the space of a split second, Aomine switched yet again and passed by.

That didn't faze Ryouta, after all, he was faster. Quickly, Ryouta moved in front of Aomine, stopping him in his tracks. Aomine was surprised a little but then he made a step backwards and shot the ball. It was his formless shot.

The moment he shot the ball, after a second, Ryouta jumped and caught it, leaving everyone except Kaijou shocked.

Imayoshi looked at Kaijou. _I'm impressed. That's the first time I've seen anyone stopped Aomine in a one-on-one._ _He_ thought.

Ryouta was returning while Aomine wiped off the sweat off his face. He said to the blond, "I didn't actually think you'd stop me."

"Bitch, who the fuck do you take me for?" Ryouta snapped at him.

Aomine drew back in shock at the vicious response.

The game resumed, Kasamatsu had the ball but he was unable to pass it to anyone due to Touou's tough defense. Moriyama then broke pass Sakurai and Kasamatsu called out to him.

 _We won't fall for that!_ Imayoshi thought with a smile. _You're going to fake a pass and go for the drive!_

The moment Kasamatsu did that, Imayoshi was there to block him, Kasamatsu made a turnaround but Imayoshi knew what was coming next.

"A fadeaway jump." He said. But this didn't faze Kaijou's captain. He jumped anyway, leaving Imayoshi stunned. Kasamatsu then shot the ball, Imayoshi's fingers managed to graze it.

"Rebound!" he shouted. Hayakawa was ready and waiting, and against Susa and Wakamatsu, the power forward got the rebound and without hitch passed it to Moriyama. Doing what he does best, he sank the ball, earning another three points for Kaijou.

The game progressed, the two teams going at it. For Kaijou, they mostly used Moriyama and Kasamatsu to make shots, as they wanted to always get the maximum points. Ryouta played well, but he couldn't really let loose because this was just the first quarter, he couldn't exhaust his teammates so early. So, all he did was keep Aomine at bay which was working to an extent.

By the time the buzzer sounded, Kaijou was in the lead with Touou trailing behind by a basket.

Up in the audience, Ryouji was ecstatic, seeing how his little brother played and stopped Aomine wherever he went. Kise on the other hand, couldn't help the knots forming in his stomach. There was something strange about Ryouta this time around, as compared to the other matches, the Prince seemed a little bit out of it.

He seemed... _troubled._

Even Kaito had sensed something irregular with the Mana flow within Ryouta's body but decided to watch to see if anything will actually happen.

On the Kaijou bench, the boys rehydrated themselves. Ryouta drank a mouthful of water as Takeuchi talked.

"Good job everyone! Kise you're doing good too."

Ryouta nodded his acknowledgement. However, he wanted to be done with this match. He wanted to leave, but there was no way he'd be able to signal Kise that he should come in early. And it wasn't like he could have Takeuchi switch him out for Nakamura like previous times. He knew that they _needed_ him to handle Aomine.

The buzzer then sounded, the second quarter started as both teams made their way back onto the court.

"Ret's do it! Ret's get those lebounds!" Hayakawa shouted as he slapped his cheeks. "I'm leady to go! Yeah!"

 _(Let's do it! Let's get those rebounds. I'm ready to go.)_

"That guy won't shut up." Wakamatsu said to Susa.

"You're always pretty loud too." Imayoshi said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"What?"

"You're quite similar." Susa said.

"Well," Imayoshi began. "It's no fun watching your opponents celebrate." He held the ball in his hands. "Let's take it slow shall we?" he smirked.

The game started, Imayoshi had the ball bouncing. He and Kasamatsu were by the centre circle. He then passed it Sakurai who then passed to Susa. He passed it back to Imayoshi, who went into a stance to shoot a three. Moriyama came up to block him but in that instance, he passed to Wakamatsu who was behind. He then made the shot.

"Let's get them back!" Kasamatsu said as he bounced the ball. Imayoshi came upon Kasamatsu before he could go to his new marker, but he didn't mind.

"I know you're fast so I'm not letting you go." Imayoshi said.

Kasamatsu couldn't help but then passed the ball to Ryouta but when the blond saw Aomine's face, he knew he was in for a rough time. If he wasn't a Ningen, Ryouta had a feeling that he'd be extremely pressured at this moment.

With an eye roll, Ryouta darted for the net, however, in trying to keep his mind off Aomine, he unwittingly slowed down and as such, the tanned ace was able to catch him up. By the time Ryouta jumped to make a shot, Aomine jumped for the block and viciously slammed the ball back to the ground.

"You're pathetic." Aomine said. "I don't know what you're playing at, but if you keep this up, I'm going to crush you with everything I have."

Aomine's face was darkened, and looking at his face, images flashed through Ryouta's mind of his traumatic past. The lonely days when he was caged up in a suffocating Water cell, the days when he was tortured beyond what his six senses could handle...

The blond took a trembling step back, holding himself as though he was trying to calm and comfort his shaking body. Aomine saw this and being that he knew Kise since middle school, he reached out a hand towards the shaking blond.

But, that moment, Ryouta lost it.

A hysteric scream ripped from his throat as he swatted away his hand. Kaijou and Hakase rushed in to the frantic prince, but they were a second too late. Ryouta stopped screaming but he lunged for Aomine, grabbing him in his neck as the two crashed to the floor. He was choking the living daylights out of Aomine with a face full of rage. Everyone saw this, the referee, Touou and Kaijou tried to intervene. However, like the incident prior, a huge magic circle appeared on the court, crackling with Lightning.

They froze up at this, but the regulars of Kaijou and Hakase didn't care about that. Ryouta was killing Aomine, an innocent boy he'd never met before since coming to Earth.

"Ki...se..." Aomine tried to talk to the blond but his air supply was being cut off. As if Ryouta knew that help was coming, massive and thick Lightning bolts surrounded Ryouta and Aomine, barring anyone from interrupting.

 _Let's finish him._ The voice within said.

Raising his left hand, "Kaizer" materialized, and the blond boy was prepared to impale the next to unconscious Aomine with it, when suddenly, something ― _someone_ sent the blond Prince flying into the nearby wall. Kise used a drop kick on the Prince, while Ryouji went to Aomine's aid. They had taken swift action when they spotted the Lightning and sensed the Mana leakage.

The spectators were sent into a frenzied state, everyone scurrying and fighting to escape the gymnasium. Seirin were in that lot, and even Midorima who went to watch couldn't help but get swept up in the crowd.

"Ryouta! Hold him still! I'll tend to Daiki!" Ryouji ordered Kise. "And whatever you do, _don't_ let your guard down."

Kise only nodded, but was pretty confused by everything. Why would Ryouta flip out like this? By the time he turned in Ryouta's direction, the boy had launched at him, and the two went crashing into the wall across the court.

Kise hissed in pain but he was glad that he hadn't broken anything. Using his Wind Magic, Kise managed to get Ryouta off him but when he looked at the Prince, he didn't see any semblance of the Ryouta he knew.

His wild brown eyes had turned a golden yellow and burned with rage; in that instant, he materialized a huge mace and lunged at Kise once again. Ryouta's movements were erratic and unstable, so Kise had to use Martial Arts and "Benevolence" in order to counter him properly.

"Oi, Prince, what are you doing!? Snap out of it!" Kise tried to reason when their weapons clashed together but there was no answer from him. Instead, he continued to swing his mace at Kise. But these weren't ordinary swings. The way how Ryouta manoeuvred the weapon made it seem like he'd been using the weapon for years and mastered it.

While Kise knew of the Prince's "collection", no one told him that the asshole was proficient in any other weapon apart from his spears. He was taken out his thoughts when Ryouta grabbed his leg and slammed him into the wall, Kise breaking through the concrete and ending up into a hallway.

He quickly rolled out of the way to avoid a kick to the stomach, which created a large crater in the floor that later crumbled into a hole. Ryouta snarled at Kise, venom burning in his eyes.

Ryouta moved fast, so damn fast that Kise nearly never had any time to react. Luckily, Kaito was present, and through the vibrations of the ground, he had anticipated the move. Taking control of Kise's limbs, he managed to save Kise from being cut in half. He slid to his left, getting in Ryouta's open side.

Using the 540 Spinning Hook Kick, Kise landed a hit to the back of the blond's head, stunting him momentarily. He was about to land another attack, when he saw blood running down from the back of the Prince's head and froze. Although Ryouta seemed to be possessed by some malicious spirit, Kise couldn't find it in him to kill the boy.

Kise jumped back to avoid any sudden attack Ryouta may pull out, but instead, the boy swayed, looking disoriented and...drunk. Wanting to knock him out, Kise made a step forwards but Kaito stopped him.

" _He's coming."_ The Seirei said.

In that moment, Ryouta lunged forward but when Kise dodged, he went on his palms and spun his feet like a windmill, Kise was lucky to have been quick enough and brought up his hands as a shield. He used Earth magic to protect his bones, because surely, they would have just broken or fractured then.

Before he could recover fully, Ryouta pounded mercilessly at his hands, pushing Kise further backwards.

What was worse about the current Ryouta was that he fought like a wild animal. He was unorthodox, unpredictable and unstable. He kicked, he scraped he did everything Kise could think of, and the blond ace could only be on the defensive because he didn't want to hurt him.

Irritated at this, Kaito said to Kise,

"Let me handle this, because you're going to let him kill you."

"Wha―"

…

When Kise and Ryouta had left, Ryouji stooped down by Aomine's side and used his Water Magic to heal the injured boy. He could see Ryouta's hand printed around the boy's neck and when he started his work, he realized that Ryouta was actually using his Magic to slowly kill the boy from the inside out.

"That wicked motherfucker." the Second Prince mumbled to himself. Hakase ran over with Kaijou regulars, Momoi, Imayoshi and Susa rushed up to Aomine and Ryouji. Right now, the Second Prince couldn't care less if they saw his Magic in action because he didn't exist on Earth anyway ―well, he did just not as Kise Ryouji but as Kise Reiko. All that was on his mind was to get Aomine better and to aid Kise.

"Ryouji, what...what's happening?" Hakase asked. "Why is Ryouta…?"

Ryouji didn't look up at the boy. "I'll explain later."

As for Momoi, Imayoshi and Susa, although they were present, they were too overwhelmed to say anything. All they could do was pray for their ace will be alright. But their worry was about to be escalated when a part of the wall exploded.

Aomine was basically back to normal, although Ryouji wasn't a hundred percent done with him yet. The Second Prince then got up to look at what caused it. At first, he thought that Kise and Ryouta had made their way back here, but the colour from his face drained when he saw his little brother lying in the rubble, bleeding all over his body.

He made a move to heal his injuries, but then Kise came into view, and saw that he was just as battered as Ryouta. He was using "Kaizer" as a support and mentally slapped himself. Still he rushed over to their aids, since they were his little brothers. But that moment, massive bolt of Lightning shot upwards and ripped through the ceiling ―the roof and shot up into the sky as if it had no intention of stopping.

If Ryouji thought the colour drained from his face earlier, then he was wrong.

It was now that he started to fret for their lives.

While he knew that he was a powerful Water Mage, fighting against a monster such as Ryouta without killing or seriously injuring him was hard to do. Plus, he had to be watching over Kaijou and company since the building was collapsing.

Kise danced around the Lightning bolt to end up at Ryouji's side, Kaito was already mending the boy's injuries.

"Ryouta, can I ask you for a favour?" Ryouji started.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Help me wear him down, and then head back to the Palace and get Papa. Tell him it's Code Black."

"What?"

At this time, Kaito appeared beside Kise like an apparition and said, "It's best you go. I'm here, I can assist Ryouta in taming that beast."

"He's more than a beast, Kaito." Ryouji said.

"What makes you say that?"

Ryouji made a gesture in the direction of the Lightning. Ryouta could be seen standing in the midst of it, a murderous glare in his eyes. With every step he took, the earth quivered, as if cowering under the boy's strength.

Ryouji materialized his Spear ―Kanzler as the cold sweat barrelled down his face.

"When you see the display of power, you'll realize that the boy in front of you is a fucking monster. Only Papa and Mom can take him down."

"So what should we do?" Kise asked with worry.

"I'd love to say we run, but if we leave him alone, he'll destroy Japan."

"But why is this happening?!"

"Ryouta has disassociative identity disorder. We thought he got better, but it seems the bastard lied to avoid his therapy." his face then softened, "Or maybe coming into contact with Daiki triggered something."

Kise was left frozen. "He has a split personality?! What?!"

Ryouji sighed. "Two actually. We call the wild one earlier "Futatsu". He's easier to deal with because he rarely uses Magic to fight. He rather rip you limb from limb or pound you into mush using his mace." he said. "And looking at things, either you've gotten "Futatsu" really pissed that he'd actually use Magic or that's the other one we call "Mitsu". And he's nothing but immense stress. He ―"

Ryouji broke off as Lightning barrelled towards them and they ducked to either side to avoid it. In that moment, Ryouji darted towards "Ryouta" who then materialized his mace preparing for Ryouji's attack. The older blond swung his spear downwards in an arc, "Ryouta" using the shaft of the mace to brace.

"It's been a while, huh, Futatsu." Ryouji said as he continuously pushed down on "Futatsu". "Just give back Ryouta his body. We can end this peaceful, you know?" A large blue magic circle appeared behind Ryouji which within a split second, a gush of water shot out towards the raging Prince.

Ryouji jumped back so as to not be caught by any surprise attack. But what he saw next, left him stunned. His Water Magic was bending and twisting to someone else's will. He then saw "Futatsu" with an outstretched hand who _was controlling the Water Magic._

Ryouta cannot use Water Magic.

Ryouta _shouldn't_ be able to use Water Magic.

As a matter of fact, Ningen are only capable of using one type of Magic, even if their parents are of different elements. Kise was the only exception since he was a Human and they haven't figured out his case yet.

Deciding not to dwell on this matter and get back his little brother, Ryouji charged forward, and of course "Futatsu" did the same. Ryouji materialized his spear and made a swing to the right, forcing the boy to arch backwards. In that breath, an arm made out of water descended and punched him in the gut, leaving him winded.

Like a zombie, "Futatsu" rose up but stilled. Ryouji wondered if he was alright, since "Futatsu" had been fighting Kise and Kaito earlier. He's bound to be injured in some way.

Then, his blond hair rustled, seeming to be changing its form. An ahoge formed at the top of his head, and if Ryouji felt sick to his stomach before, he felt like fainting right about now.

A sinister grin spread across "Ryouta's" face, Lightning crackling wildly around him. "It's been a long time, indeed." his voice lost all its chirp and sounded breathy. "And this time, I'll kill you for sure."

Ryouji trembled.

He had to fight with utmost restraint because he couldn't kill his little brother, but, that same asshole will fight at his max or close to that because _this one_ wanted him dead. Ryouji inwardly cursed.

"You know Mitsu, I rather Futatsu. He doesn't talk." Ryouji said, trying to stall him. "So, bring him back out, please?"

"Mitsu" had a tensed predatory look, as though he was a lion about to close his jaws on a cornered animal. He didn't reply to Ryouji at all.

"No, don't be like that Mitsu. Ryouta will be sad if you kill me, you know?" Ryouji continued.

"Then move out of my way. Why are you shielding Daiki anyway?"

"This Daiki has nothing to do with Ryouta's ―" he broke himself off. "―He's just a weak Human boy!"

But his reasoning only fell on deaf ears.

"I don't care." "Mitsu" deadpanned. As soon as he said this, three magic circles appeared behind him, and within a split second, three huge balls of Lightning appeared, looking extremely threatening. Ryouji inhaled and exhaled, and likewise "Mitsu", Magic circles appeared, each shaping like a dragon, ready to swallow the balls.

With devious smirks, the two boys released their attacks, but "Mitsu's" disappeared suddenly. A tunnel of Fire mixed with concrete debris coming from the damaged wall nearby caused the boy to lose focus and turned his attention to where the attack came from.

Even Ryouji and Kise were shocked, as there shouldn't be anyone who's capable of using Magic apart from them and Ryouta and by extension Hakase due to the accident.

A tall dark-haired youth fanned the dust away from his face as he came through the hole, mumbling to himself, "Dammit, I came here to watch a match and the whole place starts collapsing. What the hell is going on? And where's the damn exit?"

As he came into view, Hakase and Kaijou were stunned.

The boy was dressed in Kaijou's blue and white volleyball jersey, with his blue bag slung across his shoulders.

"Maeda-senpai?!" Hakase and Kise screeched in shock.

"Hakase! Kise! What's ―" he broke off as the place rumbled and his attention was turned towards Ryouji who had released his Dragons on "Mitsu". Tae Syun froze momentarily as he watched it with awe and...nostalgia? Kasamatsu and the others saw the look in his eyes and couldn't mistake it. Plus, they just witnessed Fire coming from his direction. Sure as hell, there were no flame throwing equipment present in the gymnasium.

Lightning shot up in the air forcing Ryouji to jump back, this time Kise started to intervene. He thought it'll be wise for him to fight "Mitsu" instead, since he also had Lightning. One misstep and Ryouji can be electrocuted and he wouldn't want that.

But when Kise darted to him, Lightning enveloped "Mitsu" and he disappeared from sight. Kise looked around frantic, unable to locate the boy.

"Dai-chan!" his head whipped around to see "Mitsu" landing a punch in Aomine's stomach, causing the tanned ace to double over and seeming to lose consciousness. He jumped up on a magic circle to leave with the boy but Ryouji materialized his whip ―Ketzer and latched onto "Mitsu's" feet.

He pulled the boy back down, and rammed him into the floor while Kise grabbed Aomine and laid him down safely before dashing off to help Ryouji subdue "Mitsu".

Tae Syun watched the battle unfold and didn't know what to do. He was seeing two Kise Ryouta fighting each other with another male who seemed to be related to the two. But, they were using elements to aid them. _Isn't this supposed to be impossible?_ He quickly snapped back to reality as he saw Momoi and others trying to get Aomine conscious. But it wasn't working.

One thing he did know though, that he should try to get them out of this hellhole. The inhuman monsters fighting seemed like they wanted to bring down this entire building in their family feud.

"Hakase!" he called out. Everyone turned to look at him, and he continued, "Come on! Let's get out of here!"

Kobori and Susa took Aomine, Kasamatsu leading the way and getting everyone organized. Tae Syun stayed at the back, and took one last glance over his shoulder at the battling trio. Ryouji's Water Magic took on various shapes as they raged towards "Mitsu", Kise attacked at close range with "Kaizer" and Martial Arts.

But "Mitsu" noticed that they were escaping. Using his Lightning once again, he disappeared from Kise and Ryouji to appear at Kobori and Susa who carried Aomine. The moment "Mitsu" drew "Kaizer" and made a stab, a wall of Fire separated him and the two boys, prompting him to jump back.

"It _is_ Fire Magic!" Kise and Ryouji shouted as if convincing themselves from earlier, but Kaito thought otherwise and didn't say anything just yet.

"Maeda-senpai was a Ningen too?" Kise gasped out in shock. "Do you know him?" Ryouji shook his head. But it was surprising. He's never heard of a case like this before, where a Ningen ended up on Earth. And a young one such as that. And he didn't remember hearing anything about a "Maeda" missing or whatever.

While Tae Syun's hands burned with Fire around them, Kaijou and company inched away from the wall and the crazed "Mitsu" who was hell-bent on killing Aomine.

"Mitsu" had had enough.

At first, he wanted to get the one responsible for Ryouta's pain, but more nuisances have arrived. One has Water Magic, One has Lightning and Earth Magic and the newcomer wielded Fire. He was not amused at the turn of events.

If only the fools had allowed "Futatsu" to kill Daiki earlier, then none of this would have happened. But no, they decided to shield the asshole and protect him. "Mitsu" chuckled at their stupidity. Anyone who stands in his way of cleansing the source of Ryouta's pain will be annihilated.

"Ryouta. Snap out of it!" Kise shouted at him. "Look at what you're doing!"

"Mitsu" looked at him as though he was talking a different language. "I am the one they call "Mitsu". Ryouta won't be coming back until you all are dead and charred into black ash."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Anything or anyone who causes Ryouta pain, I will eradicate it. And you lot are in that category."

"Wait, we didn't do anything!" Nakamura couldn't help his mouth from speaking.

"Of course. All we wanted was Daiki. But you're all protecting him." "Mitsu" said coolly.

"You want to get roasted don't you?" Tae Syun spoke up. Frankly, in a situation like this, he didn't care that his Fire was seen by these people. There was a sick psycho before him that needed to be stopped. "Aomine didn't do anything!"

"I wouldn't know." "Mitsu" shrugged. "Ryouta felt so much pain that he crumbled, it is my and Futatsu's duty to protect him and slaughter anything that may harm him when he comes back."

Seeing that they were trying to chat him out, Ryouji whispered in Kise's ear that he'd be getting their father to deal with the monster. So quickly, he wrote up a teleportation circle that corresponded with the one in Kise's old room and left within a flash.

But, he didn't see the look of rage on Kise's face.

"You're going to slaughter Aominecchi?" the blond spat. "Over my dead body."

And with that, he headed towards "Mitsu".

…

When Ryouji reached back to the room, he immediately ran through the gateway. He immediately created another teleportation circle which took him directly to King Ryouhei, who was in the courtyard with his brother ―Prime Minister Kouhei. It was night time, but the two men were sitting and gazing at the gem-like stars.

"Papa!" he screeched as loud as his vocal chords could. "Earth! Code Black!"

King Ryouhei's face twisted with shock and disbelief, even Kouhei was stunned. The older man knew what "Code Black" entailed but he ignored the "Earth" part. King Ryouhei then grabbed Ryouji and headed back to the room, but of course his brother was following and he didn't even realize. Reaching back to the room, the trio reached Earth, Kouhei was in awe at the sudden of scenery.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"Not now Onii-chan!" King Ryouhei said. But they all felt a chill. They dashed to the window and saw in the distance a burst of Red Lightning shoot up in the air, followed by a chunks of White Earth and quick bursts of Fire.

"Fuck."

Without hitch, the King and Prime Minister dashed towards it on their stepping stones, Ryouji slung over the King's shoulder.

…

"Is everyone here!?" Riko's voice could hardly be heard over the screams. "Kuroko-kun!"

"He's here." Kagami said. Kuroko was _safely_ tucked underneath Kagami's arm as the redheaded ace couldn't manage to lose him in this stampede and chaos.

"Alright let's go!" As they moved off, they felt the earth shake, and looking in the direction of the gymnasium, they spotted Red Lightning, Yellow Lightning and White Earth seeming to be clashing against each other. There was Fire occasionally, but unlike the Earth and Lightning, it came from a source on the ground.

But, they didn't want to find out for themselves what exactly was happening. Cars were being thrown all over due to the erratic earth movements, Lightning electrocuted many who were scampering for their lives, but Seirin kept their heads straight to the exit gate, wanting to leave the venue.

Police and the Fire Department were on the scene, but they couldn't approach the collapsing building with those elements running wild. Just then, they saw a gigantic magic circle hovering above the gymnasium and a bright red ball descended, the same red lightning cracking around it.

Their bodies froze with fear, their limbs seized up as they could smell their imminent deaths...

…

"Mitsu" was sent flying into what was left of the spectator stands, while Kise teleported the teams outside, his mind was too much of a jumbled mess to remember what the magic circle in his former room looked like. Tae Syun stayed back and assisted in what way he could, and with Kise and Tae Syun on his case, "Mitsu" was getting irritated by the moment. What made it worse, there was something within him that kept on restricting some of his movements. He let out a sigh as he knew that Ryouta was subconsciously trying to save them. It was a pain in the ass, as all the times before this, he'd usually wipe them out before they could gather their numbers.

Being a man of little patience, with a hand raised, a gigantic magic circle appeared above in the sky, as since the ceiling, roof and half of the building were gone, they could see the open sky. Immediately, Kaito took over Kise's body and placed his palms on the ground.

"What is that!?" Tae Syun asked, frantic.

"That's an annihilation spell." he answered. "Probably, we're all going to die here."

"What!?"

"I could lessen the shock impact, but there's no Mana in this world and I'm already low on Mana from fighting him."

"Shit." Tae Syun grumbled. "So we couldn't run?"

Kaito laughed. "Run? How funny. That thing will wipe out this entire city and the next."

"Eh?!"

"Die." "Mitsu" said as he swung his hand down, the ball descending rapidly. Kaito's Earth Magic worked quickly to cover those outside while he too used the Red Lightning from Kise's body to create a barrier for him and Tae Syun. However, the attack never landed. A loud Dragon's roar could be heard and they looked up to see a massive Dragon of White Lightning. It lit up the sky as it devoured the ball in one bite, before descending downwards to "Mitsu".

But instead of eating the boy, it stopped in front of him, and its ominous presence had the boy numb from fear. His limbs trembled as he struggled to hold "Kaizer" properly. Kaito gave back Kise control. Kise was drained and as such, collapsed onto his butt as his legs couldn't hold out any longer. The former ace could heave a sigh of relief when he looked up and saw three enter from above.

King Ryouhei, Kouhei and Ryouji.

"Why don't you come quietly, ne Mitsu-kun?" King Ryouhei started.

"Ne-Ne-Never," "Mitsu" stuttered out, pointing "Kaizer" at King Ryouhei. However, he was shaking so much that Kise and Tae Syun could swear that they were hearing it. Coming from the two men was an aura that had everyone weak in their bones.

"Oh, is that so?" Kouhei joined in. In that instant, Kouhei bound "Mitsu's" limbs while King Ryouhei dashed towards "Mitsu". Placing his palms onto the boy's chest, Yellow Lightning emerged and electrocute the boy. His pained screams went like a shockwave through the air, Kise and Tae Syun feeling some pity towards the boy. After King Ryouhei retracted his arm, "Mitsu" went limp in the man's arms and after which King Ryouhei carried him princess style.

"If you would only talk me, I could ease your pain." The King said, his voice sounding as though he wanted cry. He brushed his hair out of his face and kissed him on his forehead.

Meanwhile, Kise and Tae Syun were being healed by Ryouji and his Water Magic.

…

After minutes have passed, Ryouji followed Kise outside after the King and Kouhei took Ryouta and Tae Syun back to the house (not the Palace). The two blonds scoured the crowd for Kaijou, Hakase and company and thankfully it wasn't hard to find them.

"What just happened?" Imayoshi asked when Kise and Ryouji jogged up to them by the numerous ambulances present. "What the hell are you?"

"Can't talk now." Ryouji said. He moved over to where Aomine was, lying on a stretcher inside the back of the ambulance. Sensing what the boy wanted to do, Kise used his Lightning Magic to brighten the area, so that no one could see. Ryouji took Aomine and wrote a teleportation circle, moving the teens back to the house.

When they returned to Kise's former room, they saw that Ryouta was lying in his bed with the Queen repairing the damages done. He placed Aomine beside Ryouta and told her to heal him as well to which she nodded her agreement.

"Where's Papa?"

"He's downstairs." she replied, not caring that there were Human teenagers present. Kise bolted down the stairs because he needed answers. The others followed behind, Ryouji nearly pushing them down the stairs as well.

The King and Kouhei were sitting in the living room, Tae Syun looked extremely fidgety. Seeing Kise's face, the King let out an exasperated sigh.

"You'll need to take a seat first." he started because he knew what they were all here for.

But then Kasamatsu got up and said to Momoi, Imayoshi and Susa, "Whatever you saw today, tell no one. As a matter of fact, you didn't see anything."

They nodded. It's not like they could tell anyone anyway, because who would believe them that the wild elements today were actually coming from teenaged boys.

"Well, it happened six years ago..."

* * *

 _ **Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review!**_


	24. Author's Note

_**Author's Note.**_

Hello our dearest fans,

This is Nightmare here. Lately, I've been receiving a lot of PMs questioning whether or not I will update our stories. _**YES,**_ I will continue to update, none of the stories have been dropped (not even Vice-Versa) but the reason for the lengthy delay is because my dear partner ―Taichou―died in January.

Her death was so sudden that even now, I haven't gotten over it. It's rather hard to write these days without her shrieking at me to shorten the chapters, or to throw in a twist that'll give you all heart-attacks.

But, I will continue all our stories for her sake and for you all to see how the stories end.

However, a word of warning, because she's not here anymore, the chapters will be extremely long (maybe 10,000 words or more) ―yes I write a lot.

In regards to our stories:

 _ **Catal Rhythm**_ ―since we have everything planned out until the end, this will be updated a lot more frequently than the other stories.

 _ **Arcane Reality**_ ―updates will be every two-three weeks (hopefully), once I get to write.

 _ **RimFire**_ **―** this story will be updated whenever I get the inspiration, in fact, I've written the matches already, it's just to fill in the cute character interactions together.

 _ **Vice-Versa**_ ―hmm, to be honest, this was modelled after a webnovel that we were writing together, and I still have to update that so maybe once-a-month…

I'm sorry for the extremely long wait, I hope you all understand. I'll get back to writing as soon as I can.


End file.
